| Fortunately, the German Films brunch took place indoors at La République in Los Angeles. And most importantly: The bad weather didn't hurt the mood in the restaurant at all. There were about 70 guests plus three camera teams (ARD, ZDF, Pro Sieben) and from the writing press Barbara Munker, DPA and Marc Pitzke from Der Spiegel were present. Steven Gätjen tuned in for the Red Carpet Live coverage with the German Films brunch as well. In addition to local representatives from production companies, talent agencies, festivals and other mulitplicators, the team of ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT was of course the main focus. The team was in a great mood - it was almost a bit of a family reunion for them, as many saw each other for the first time since the end of the film shoot of ALL QUIET. The overall atmosphere at the event was very relaxed and conversation flowed easily. On Friday evening, the approximately one-hour INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM panel took place at the Academy Museum's David Geffen Theatre in the presence of the five nominated directors. Moderated by Rajendra Roy and director Susanne Bier (Co-Chairs International Feature Film Executive Committee), the event had an exceptional atmosphere full of respect and appreciation for foreign language film and the importance to the Academy. The conversation was very much about LANGUAGE as a cultural identity. At noon on Saturday, the traditional two-hour reception for OSCAR®nominees took place at the Villa Aurora artists' residence, with German Films participating. If you can't get enough of ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT then listen to our Deep Dive Genre in-depth podcast episodes with OSCAR®-winner Edward Berger as well as the films costume designer, OSCAR®-nominee Lisy Christl. | |
| Our curator Jim Kolmar selected this movie: Maren Ade's second feature, her precursor to the masterful TONI ERDMANN, is a richly cinematic, emotional tour de force. Amid a dreamy Mediterranean backdrop, Chris (Lars Eidinger) and Gitti (Birgit Minichmayr) find their lovers' idyll tested when another couple enters their world, disrupting and challenging the insular construct of their connection. Far from a conventional romance, EVERYONE ELSE is a prickly, sun-soaked exploration of the nuances and obstacles that characterize modern relationships, in all their beauty, caprice and fragility. RSVP: https://bit.ly/kinofilmsaloneveryoneelse
Date and time: Sunday, April 16th at 11am - 12pm PT, 2pm - 3pm ET, 8pm - 9pm CET.
Hosted by Jim Kolmar KINO! FILM SALON is a production of Telescope Film, in collaboration with the German Film Office. | |
| Compared to 2021, this indicates a small reduction in box office as well as in audience numbers but still represents a better box office result than in the last pre-pandemic year of 2019.
Detailed analysis of German films abroad in 2022 is available in our latest Facts & Figures report.
For further information, please contact Andrea Schiefer. | |
| To kick-off the new campaign with seven talented young German filmmakers, a panel and press conference moderated by DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD editor Diana Lodderhose was hosted at the beautiful historic “Kaisersaal” at Potsdamer Platz. Our 2023 FACE TO FACE ambassadors talked about their current and upcoming projects, as well as trends and developments in the German film and TV industry.
The 2023 talents are: writer Sönke Andresen, actor Welket Bungué, composer Dascha Dauenhauer, director, actor and writers Alison Kuhn and Lukas Nathrath, writer and director Reza Memari, as well as actor Lena Urzendowsky. Find more information about the campaign and creative talent here and take a look at the campaign trailer. | |
| The panelists from the five series presented were:
A THIN LINE - Jakob D. Weydemann (Weydemann Bros) and Susanne Schildknecht (Paramount+)
DAVOS - Stefan Eichenberger (Contrast Film) and Jan-Hendrik Holst (Letterbox)
THE GRYPHON - Petra Hengge (Amazon Prime Video) and André Zoch (Doghaus Film)
JUNI - Marianne Wendt (SchillerWendt) and Benedikt Böllhoff (VIAFilm)
I AM SCROOGE - Nico Grein (RTL) and Dominik Frankowski (Zeitsprung Pictures)
German Films organized the panel in cooperation with the German film funds: @filmedienrw, @fffbayern @moinfilmfoerderung @medienboard The second event was FACE TO FACE WITH GERMAN TALENTS, where screenwriter Sönke Andresen and the director-actor-writers Alison Kuhn and Lukas Nathrath from our 2023 campaign presented their latest work and discussed current trends and the state of the German series landscape today. | |
| Episode 40 - 23 March:
Maeve Metelka recently charmed us in SACHERTORTE. And although she was in the middle of theatre rehearsals for CLOCKWORK ORANGE we had a wonderful chat, which incidentally ever so slightly turned into an Astrid Lindgren and Christine Nöstlinger appreciation podcast. Episode 41 - 13 April:
Films, Films, Films – for director Lukas Nathrath it’s all about going to the cinema and talking about the films seen with friends later. Although he does have a soft spot for YouTube videos about American political scandals – and a good Wiener Schnitzel. SHORT TAKE: A GERMAN FILMS PODCAST has already racked up more than 20.000 listeners from various countries since the format’s launch - and more are joining with each new episode. You can find all of the episodes on our website and wherever podcasts are available. SHORT TAKE on Instagram! | |
| The International Competition and the Lab Competition presented eight German productions, another seven shorts were screened in the special programs. The Grand Prix of the International Competition was awarded to the WILL MY PARENTS COME TO SEE ME by Mo Harawe (AT/DE/SO). SUBTOTALS by Mohammadreza Farzad (PL/DE/IR, Road River Films) received the Best Documentary Award and a Special Mention of the Lab Competition Jury. With its short film market and a broad spectrum of industry activities, Clermont-Ferrand is the world's most important festival specialising in short films. Together with the AG Kurzfilm, German Films organised a booth at the film market where it provided information about the new online catalogue and presented the traditional market screenings of the MATINÉE ALLEMANDE with nine new German shorts as well as of the new edition of the biennial program EMERGING ARTISTS.
The 18th edition of the German-French cooperation program SOIRÉE ALLEMANDE celebrated its premiere to a packed cinema on 30 January. Six new films representing the diversity of German short filmmaking were selected from the more than 470 German submissions to the festival: the documentary BORDER CONVERSATIONS by Jonathan Brunner, the experimental documentary THE GUARDIANS OF REFUSE: A SHORT HISTORY OF GARBAGE by Susann Maria Hempel, the animation HELLO STRANGER by Julia Ocker, and the fiction shorts DESIRED CHILD by Laura Solbach, I WAS NEVER REALLY HERE by Gabriel B. Arrahnio and IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE TODAY by Sophia Groening. The directors Gabriel B. Arrahnio, Jonathan Brunner and Laura Solbach attended the premiere and the following Q&A with Anne Gaschütz (Locarno Festival, Filmfest Dresden), held during the traditional reception of the German Consulate Lyon. The short film program is a collaboration between AG Kurzfilm, German Films, the International Short Film Festival Clermont-Ferrand, the Goethe-Institute Lyon and the Kurzfilm Agentur Hamburg and will go on tour as SHORT EXPORT. The program can be booked by the Goethe-Institutes and their partners around the globe, it’s available with English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian subtitles.
An overview of all German films in Clermont-Ferrand is available here. | |
| The first catalogue update for 2023 with a total of 25 new shorts was published in January in time for the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival and Market. The members of the AG Kurzfilm – German Short Film Association and a jury selected a broad spectrum of short films - fiction films, animated films, experimental films and documentaries as well as various hybrid forms. All of the short films added to the catalogue had their festival premiere very recently or are just about to premiere. Everyone interested can search for German short films in the online catalogue using a wide range of functions, keywords, themes, categories, etc. International film professionals can also screen the films online after registering. More than 900 short films produced since 2004 are now available for viewing. The selection process is currently underway for the films for the next update which will go online in mid-May around the time of the Festival de Cannes. | |
| Episode 1 - 7 March:
Director and writer Maggie Peren is a genre shapeshifter. But she loves a good RomCom as much as we do. We talked to her about her creative process behind her warmhearted and funny romantic comedy HELLO AGAIN – EIN TAG FÜR IMMER. Episode 2 - 28 March:
We go deep into romcom territory with director Aron Lehmann when talking about his wonderful film DAS SCHÖNSTE MÄDCHEN DER WELT – and cover everything from rap battles, the importance of the female perspective in storytelling and what REALLY is a RomCom?! The podcast is now available on the GermanFilms website, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, Stitcher and wherever you get your podcasts. | |
| Curated by SXSW film programmer Jim Kolmar, these titles are “idiosyncratic, visionary and inventive, striking a balance between the accessible and the conceptually challenging. It was a true pleasure to curate this selection of films for the KINO! Germany NOW! program. Taken together, the original, substantial pool of potential titles represents a significant berth of themes, influences, aesthetics and, most importantly, talent. Narrowing them down to five was a daunting task, but I believe the results represent a vibrant distillation of the energetic innovation that characterizes German film. While each title is distinct, the selected titles are a collective attempt to reckon with themes of human connection, alienation and emotional intimacy. They aim to tackle the anxieties of the current moment, with an eye on the past, present and future. It’s been a thrill and privilege to help make these films available, and I’m looking forward to seeing how audiences respond.” All films are preceded by a short film selected by the German Short Film Association: A E I O U: A QUICK ALPHABET OF LOVE by Jan Soldat’s STAGING DEATH
AXIOM by Alison Kuhn’s FLUFFY TALES
KISS MY WOUNDS by Frédéric Jaeger’s THE DELUGE
THE ORDINARIES by Jonatan Schwenk’s ZOON
SORRY COMRADE by Jonas Riemer’s THE ONE WHO CROSSED THE SEA From the beginning of April through the end of June 2023, the KINO! Germany NOW! film program is available for in-person screenings in theaters, art house cinemas, regional and local film festivals, film societies, and other venues in the United States. We are pleased to offer special booking conditions for these films, both as a package and individually. For more information, please contact our partner Kino Lorber. KINO! Germany NOW! introduces up-and-coming and mid-career directors from Germany, each with their own filmmaking background and unique approach to their craft. The German Film Office offers promotional support to venues presenting KINO! Germany NOW! and connects them with filmmakers for in-person and virtual Q&As. Click here to have a look at the KINO! Germany NOW! 2023 trailer. KINO! Germany NOW! is presented by the German Film Office, an initiative of the Goethe-Institut and German Films, supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the German Federal Foreign Office, and powered by Kino Lorber and the German Short Film Association. More information: www.kinogermanynow.com
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram @kinogermanynow @kinolorber | |
| In addition to the official program of the festival, which will be shown in the cinemas of Broadway Cinemas, special screenings will also take place at the Goethe Institute Beijing.
Besides the opening film RABIYE KURNAZ vs GEORGE W. BUSH by Andreas Dresen, further festival highlights from 2022 will be presented, accompanied by recorded Q&As of the directors. Screenings at Broadway Cinema: - RABIYE KURNAZ VS GEORGE W. BUSH by Andreas Dresen
- EVERYTHING WILL CHANGE by Marten Persiel
- LOVE, DEUTSCHMARKS AND DEATH by Cem Kaya
- QUIET FREEDOM by Wendla Nölle
- DAUGHTERS by Nana Neul
- THE EXAM by Shawkat Amin Korki
- LE PRINCE by Lisa Bierwirth
Special Screenings at Goethe Institut: - CONTRA by Sönke Wortmann
- AXIOM by Jöns Jönsson
- NO by Dietrich Brüggemann
- A STASI COMEDY by Leander Haußmann
- SORRY GENOSSE by Vera Brückner
- BETTINA by Lutz Pehnert
- AEIOU by Nicolette Krebitz
More information, tickets and the festival catalog can be found here. | |
| The opening film WAS MAN VON HIER AUS SEHEN KANN with its director Aron Lehmann and actress Rosalie Thomass in cooperation with the Italian distributor BIM Distribuzione started the festival. Both, Thomass and Lehmann, enjoyed the screening and subsequent talks in the packed auditorium, as well as a full student screening with never-ending Q&A in the morning. In addition, Lina Marie Drevs presented her short film SIS. BEST SISTER and the NEXT GENERATION SHORT FILM program followed by a film talk moderated by Mauro Donzelli. On Sunday evening, Leander Haußmann and his feature film STASIKOMÖDIE provided a cheerful conclusion to the festival. WHAT YOU CAN SEE FROM HERE by Aron Lehmann THE ORDINARIES by Sophie Linnenbaum TALKING ABOUT THE WEATHER by Annika Pinske RHINEGOLD by Fatih Akin SORRY GENOSSE by Vera Brückner STASI COMEDY by Leander Hausmann ZWISCHEN UNS by Max Fey | |
| GERMAN STUDENT SHORTS SUCCESSFUL AT THE ANNIE AWARDS AND VES AWARDS 2023 The Annie Awards, organized by the International Animated Film Society ASIFA-Hollywood since 1972, honor the best international achievements in the field of animation. For the 50th edition, the German animated short THE MOST BORING GRANNY IN THE WHOLE WORLD by Damaris Zielke (Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg) received a nomination in the category “Best Student Film”. The Visual Effects Society presented the winners of the 21st VES Awards during a gala event in Los Angeles on 15 February. The German short film A CALLING. FROM THE DESERT. TO THE SEA by Murad Abu Eisheh (Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg) won in the category “Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project”. KINO23 IN TURKEY
As part of the 42nd Istanbul Film Festival, the Goethe Institut Turkey, with the support of German Films, opens a new edition of the German Film Week in Turkey: KINO23. The first part of the program, which will be screened from April 25-30 in the new Sinematek/Sinemaevi Kadiköy, will take place right after the Istanbul Film Festival. Some titles of the program, such as highlights of the Berlinale - AFIRE by Christian Petzold or INGEBORG BACHMANN : JOURNEY INTO THE DESERT by Margarethe von Trotta - will already be screened there.
More titles of the current program will be published soon on the Goethe Institut website. THE 10TH TYSKE FILMDAGE will take place in Copenhagen, Aarhus and Odense from April 23-26.
The festival opens its 10th edition with THE FORGER by Maggie Peren. Berlinale highlights such as MEASURES OF MEN by Lars Kraume or SOMEDAY WE'LL TELL EACH OTHER EVERYTHING by Emily Atef will also be screened at the Grand Teatret. Line- Up: • THE FORGER by Maggie Peren • WE ARE NEXT OF KIN by Hans-Christian Schmid • THE ORDINARIES by Sophie Linnenbaum • RHEINGOLD by Fatih Akin • SOMEDAY WE’LL TELL EACH OTHER EVERYTHING by Emily Atef • DANIEL RICHTER by Pepe Danquart • MEASURES OF MEN by Lars Kraume
Find more information about the festival here. | |
| Awards for German productions and co-productions in Clermont-Ferrand, Slamdance, Santa Barbara and Berlinale. | |
| International releases of German films in March and April 2023 supported by the German Films Distribution Support program: SUN AND CONCRETE in Switzerland (Distributor: Praesens-Film AG, World Sales: Constantin Film, Theatrical Release: 02 March 2023) THE FORGER in the USA (Distributor: Kino Lorber, World Sales: Beta Cinema, Theatrical Release: 03 March 2023) MUSIC in France (Distributor: Shellac, World Sales: Les Films de L'Après-Midi, Theatrical Release: 08 March 2023) THE MAGIC FLUTE in the USA (Distributor: Shout!Studios, World Sales: Sola Media, Theatrical Release: 10 March 2023) THE ROYAL GAME in Taiwan (Distributor: Garageplay, World Sales: Studiocanal, Theatrical Release: 10 March 2023) SCHOOL OF MAGICAL ANIMALS 2 in Poland (Distributor: New Horizons, World Sales: Global Screen, Theatrical Release: 17 March 2023) RABBIT ACADEMY – MISSION EGGPOSSIBLE in Portugal (Distributor: Films4You - Cinema, World Sales: Sola Media, Theatrical Release: 23 March 2023) HOLY SHIT! in Japan (Distributor: New Select, World Sales: The Playmaker Munich, Theatrical Release: 24 March 2023) SISI & I in Switzerland (Distributor: DCM Film Distribution, World Sales: The Match Factory, Theatrical Release: 30 March 2023) THE FORGER in Argentina (Distributor: CDI Films, World Sales: Beta Cinema, Theatrical Release: 30 March 2023) HUMAN FLOWERS OF FLESH in Spain (Distributor: Lost & Found Films, World Sales: Shellac, Theatrical Release: 31 March 2023) THE OGGLIES – WELCOME TO SMELLIVILLE in South Korea (Distributor: Boxoo Entertainment, World Sales: The Playmaker Munich, Theatrical Release: 06 April 2023)
Status: Newsletter publication date. Please be aware that all release dates are subject to change. | |
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