The Festival de Cannes (17 - 28 May, 2022) completed its programme in the past few days. The films of the Official Selection were announced, and Un Certain Regard, Quinzaine des Réalisateurs and Semaine de la Critique have also published their programmes. Thirteen minor co-productions have made it into the line-ups to represent Germany.

The Special Screening section of the prestigious festival on the Croisette will present the German production THE VAGABONDS by Doroteya Droumeva (Doroteya Droumeva Produktion) as a world premiere. Her first feature film thematizes a middle-aged woman with a preference for younger partners searches for a genuine human connection while faced with societal double standards, prejudice and toxic masculinity. Also the documentary THE NATURAL HISTORY OF DESTRUCTION by Sergei Loznitsa (DE/LT/NL, LOOKSFilm) will celebrate its world premiere in this section. It deals with 20th century European history and the memory of the greatest tragedies of that time.

The co-production HOLY SPIDER (DK/DE/FR/SE) by Ali Abbasi will be shown in the Competition. Germany’s One Two Films co-produced the thriller about a family man on a spiritual mission in the holy Iranian city of Mashhad. The drama TOURMENT SUR LES ILES (PACIFICTION) by Albert Serra (FR/ES/DE/PT, Tamtam Film), which shows two people with strong attraction full of hope and frustrated longings, will also be in competition. The co-production TRIANGLE OF SADNESS by Ruben Östlund (SE/UK/USA/FR/GR/DE) will also be screened in the Competition. Essential Filmproduktion is the German co-producer of the satirical tragicomedy, set in the world of the rich and beautiful, which takes a look at the self-absorbed fashion industry. 

Un Certain Regard will feature five the co-productions: PLUS QUE JEMAIS (MORE THAN EVER) by Emily Atef (DE/FR/LU/NO, NiKo Film), CORSAGE (AT/LU/DE/FR, Komplizen Film) by Marie Kreutzer, THE PEOPLE I'LL NEVER BE by Davy Chou (FR/BE/DE, Vandertastic), MEDITERRANEAN FEVER by Maha Haj (PS/FR/DE/CY, Pallas Film) as well as HARKA by Lotfy Nathan (TN/FR/LU/DE/USA, Detailfilm).

The audience can look forward to four German co-productions in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs sidebar: ONE FINE MORNING by Mia Hansen-Løve (FR/DE, Razor Film Produktion), UN VARÓN (A MALE) by Fabian Hernández (CO/FR/NL/DE, Black Forest Films), SCARLET by Pietro Marcello (FR/IT/RU/DE, The Match Factory) and THE DAM by Ali Cherri (FR/SD/LB/DE/RS/QA, Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion).

Meanwhile, Semaine de la Critique will be screening THE WOODCUTTER STORY by Mikko Myllylahti (Achtung Panda!), a co-production between Finland, Denmark, The Netherlands and Germany.

This year will see German Films cooperating with the Marché du Film to offer two emerging producers an opportunity to take part in the impACT Lab in Cannes. The impACT Lab is a new programme of workshops organised by the Marché du Film and addresses important production issues such as the evolution of film financing, the transition to green shooting and the importance of sustainability and inclusion at every stage of production from script to screen and beyond. 

German Films has selected the producers Alisa Berger and Saralisa Volm for the impACT Lab. Alisa Berger is a media artist and filmmaker from Cologne. She was nominated for the Max Ophüls Prize and the German Film Academy’s FIRST STEPS Award with her graduation film and debut feature THE ASTRONAUTS' BODIES. In 2019, Alisa Berger joined forces with filmmakers Anna Kruglova and Yana Ugrekhelidze to co-found the international production company FORTIS FEM FILM with the goal of increasing the visibility of women and their stories in film. Saralisa Volm is a filmmaker, writer and producer. As a graduate in Art History, she is constantly attempting to explore the boundaries between film, text and visual art. Her company POISON has produced, among others, the film FIKKEFUCHS (dir: Jan Henrik Stahlberg), which was successfully released in German cinemas in 2017, as well as her debut feature, THE SILENT FOREST, which premiered at the 2022 Berlinale.