A total of eight majority German productions are participating in the competitive categories in Warsaw this year. The International Competition includes Hanna Slak’s mother-son drama NOT A WORD (VOLTE Films Balagué & Legrand), which had its world premiere in Toronto at the beginning of September, as well as BLACK BOX (Zeitsprung Pictures, gilles mann filmproduktion) by Aslı Özge, a drama about a police operation in Berlin that turns into a state of emergency.

BUFIS-DAYDREAMER by Mahad Ahmed (unafilm) will have its world premiere in Warsaw in the Free Spirit Competition. The drama centres on the so-called "Bufis", Somali refugees who dream of a better life in the USA and, like others, turn this into a business idea.

Isa Willinger’s PLASTIC FANTASTIC (Trimafilm) about the plastics industry and the consequences of plastic particles in our oceans is screening in the Documentary Competition.

Janin Halisch will be showing her film TALK TO ME (DFFB, Softspot Productions, Achtung Panda!) in the Competition 1-2 which focuses on directors’ first and second films. Halisch’s debut is a family drama where a mother and daughter have to grapple with their relationship to one another as well as to an absent father. 

Family relationships are also at the centre of WHEN WILL IT BE AGAIN LIKE IT NEVER WAS BEFORE (Komplizen Film, Warner Bros. Entertainment). The film by Sonja Heiss had also been shown at this year’s Berlinale and will now be screened in Warsaw’s Crème De La Crème Competition.

The Short Films Competition will include Christian Zipfel’s THE SOIL OF NAMIB - DREAMS (Time Prints Filmproduktion) about work in Namibian mines as well as TRINKHALLE (Vervest Films) by Alexa Ramthun about the long tradition of “Trinkhallen” in the Ruhr area that are now regarded as intangible cultural heritage.

The nine shorts in the  Next Generation Short Tiger 2023 line-up will now be shown in Warsaw after screenings at Filmfest Dresden and the Marché du Film in Cannes.

All of the German productions and co-productions in Warsaw at a glance:

International Competition
ANXIETY by Sławomir Fabicki (PL/CH/DE, Ma.ja.de fiction)
BLACK BOX by Aslı Özge (DE/BE, Zeitsprung Pictures, gilles mann filmproduktion)
NOT A WORD (KEIN WORT) by Hanna Slak (DE/SL/FR, VOLTE Films Balagué & Legrand)

Crème De La Crème Competition
GOODBYE JULIA by Mohamed Kordofani (SD/EG/FR/DE/SAU/SE, Die Gesellschaft DGS)
THE SIREN by Sepideh Farsi (FR/DE/LU/BE, Trickstudio Lutterbeck, Katuh Studio)
WHEN WILL IT BE AGAIN LIKE IT NEVER WAS BEFORE (WANN WIRD ES ENDLICH WIEDER SO, WIE ES NIE WAR) by Sonja Heiss (Komplizen Film, Warner Bros. Entertainment)
THE SETTLERS (LES COLONOS) by Felipe Gálvez (CL/UK/FR/DK/AR/DE, Sutor Kolonko)

Competition 1-2
TALK TO ME (SPRICH MIT MIR) by Janin Halisch (Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin - DFFB, Softspot Productions, Achtung Panda!)

Documentary Competition
CYBORG: A DOCUMENTARY by Carey Born (UK/US/DE/ES)
IRON BUTTERFLIES by Roman Liubyi (UA/DE, Trimafilm)
PLASTIC FANTASTIC by Isa Willinger (Trimafilm)

Free Spirit Competition
BUFIS – DAYDREAMER by Mahad Ahmed, Vincenzo Cavallo (DE/KE, unafilm)

Short Films Competition
THE SOIL OF NAMIB - DREAMS by Christian Zipfel (Time Prints Filmproduktion)
TRINKHALLE by Alexa Ramthun (Vervest Films)

Best Polish Shorts 2023
OUTSIDE (OBOK) by Izabela Plucińska (PL/DE, Clay Traces)

Next Generation Short Tiger 2023
COLLAGE by Gülce Besen Dilek (Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg)
FREE NIGHTS (FREIE NÄCHTE) by Oliver Adam Kusio (arkanum pictures)
HUGE CHOICE by Oleksandra Krasavtseva (Kunsthochschule Kassel)
IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE TODAY (MUSS JA NICHT SEIN, DASS ES HEUTE IST) by Sophia Groening (Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln)
KILLING BAGHEERA by Muschirf Shekh Zeyn (HFF)
LONG TIME NO TECHNO by Eugenia Bakurin (Eugenia Bakurin Produktion)
PRIMITIVE TIMES (UHRMENSCHEN) by Hao Yu (Filmuniversität Babelsberg)
RETURNING SOUTH by Sofía Ayala (Löwenstroh Productions)
SWIMMING LESSON (SCHWIMMSTUNDE) by Lisa Hürtgen (DFFB)

Contact:
Sylva Häutle (Head of Festival Relations & Producers Liaison)
Angela Sonntag (Head of Press & Public Relations)