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January 2021

OUTLOOK: GERMAN CINEMA & SERIES 2021

The pandemic has changed the film industry a lot and brought it almost to a standstill in some cases during 2020. In spite of the challenges facing us and the industry, we are optimistic about 2021 because we love cinema and good films and series - and this is something audiences need particularly in these difficult times.

It's more important than ever that the show must go on. Film festivals will continue to play an important role in promoting and releasing films, and we hope that many German films will also be seen in the competitions of international festivals during 2021.


More about the projects of German Films 2021
 

ALBRECHT SCHUCH IS THE GERMAN SHOOTING STAR 2021

© Steffen Roth

EFP (European Film Promotion) announced the ten European up-and-coming actors who will be honoured as EUROPEAN SHOOTING STARS 2021. Germany will be represented by Albrecht Schuch.

Albrecht Schuch has shone in recent years thanks to his performances in such films as BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ and SYSTEM CRASHER as well as the internationally highly successful TV series BAD BANKS. He will be seen in April 2021 in his latest role in Dominik Graf's adaptation of Erich Kästner's novel FABIAN.

More about Albrecht Schuch...
 

DISTRIBUTION SUPPORT 2020: application figures remain high

© Constantin Film

In 2020, the Distribution Support Programme received 153 applications for supporting the foreign theatrical release of a German film. Of these, the committee decided to support 146 film releases in 42 countries - in 2019, there were 182 applications, of which 155 were supported in 46 countries.

More on the Distribution Support in 2020...
 

NEW GERMAN FILMS ON US TOUR

German cinema in the USA kicked off the New Year with a film program entitled KINO! Germany NOW! 2021 Discover New Talent. The package consists of nine recent feature-length films which have been curated by Alissa Simon, an American film expert with many years of experience in festival and cinema programming.

The name of the program - Discover New Talent - says it all: the focus is on emerging talent from Germany. Thanks to their diverse and varied backgrounds, the filmmakers generate a creative tension par excellence in their films.


More about KINO! Germany NOW!...
 

NEWSBITES


Premiers Plan Festival 2021:
The Premiers Plan Festival in Angers (January 25-31, 2021) will pay homage to no less than three filmmakers this year. Christian Petzold will be honored for his cinematic oeuvre along with Chantal Akerman and Federico Fellini.

A selected number of films will be shown in cinemas in Angers as well as the Pays de la Loire region over the coming months from January to August.
20 years after the screening of his first feature film at the festival, and more than seven films later, the time has now come to invite Christian Petzold to Angers.

SERIES MANIA 2021:
The Co-Pro Pitching Sessions are SERIES MANIA FORUM’s oldest and most renowned program, bringing together high-quality projects, key players, decision makers and financiers from all over the world. Each year sees 15 series creators and producers being invited to pitch their series in Lille and on the Series Mania Forum digital platform, following in the footsteps of earlier projects such as The Head (HBO Asia), Freud (Netflix) or No Man's Land (Arte/Hulu).


After the pitching session, the teams behind each project are also given the opportunity to exchange individually with key industry representatives during one-to-one personal and digital meetings. The Co-Pro Pitching Sessions also offers exposure to selected projects on the SERIES MANIA digital platform. Finally, a professional jury selects and awards the best project a grant for € 50,000.


The deadline for producers to submit their series project is up to and including March 5. You can find information about the application procedure, rules and regulations and the link to the call for projects' application portal here.


OSCAR®:
Eight German (co-)productions are among the Oscar submissions of the qualifying animated shorts:
ALTÖTTING by Andreas Hykade (DE/CA/PT, Studio FILM BILDER)
THE BEAUTY by Pascal Schelbli (Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg)
FREEZE FRAME by Soetkin Verstegen (BE/DE/FI, Akademie Schloss Solitude)
FRIENDS by Florian Grolig (smpl films)
HAVE A NICE DOG by Jalal Maghout (DE/SY, Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF)
INSIDE ME by Maria Trigo Teixeira (Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF)
JUST A GUY by Shoko Hara (Studio Seufz)
THE SNAIL AND THE WHALE by Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon (GB/DE, ZDF)


Animation:
THE ELFKINS – BAKING A DIFFERENCE was the winner of the feature film competition in the “Elements +6” section at the 50th Giffoni International Film Festival.

 

FESTIVALS


German films and co-productions at GijónBogotáClermond-FerrandSlamdance, Sundance, Rotterdam, Angers, Sydney, Göteborg and Glasgow.

AWARDS


Awards for German films and co-productions at StockholmSlamdanceTorinoSt. Petersburg and Bogotá.

INTERNATIONAL RELEASES IN FEBRUARY


International releases of German films in February 2021 supported by the German Films Distribution Support programMore...

German films abroad in 2020


325 films * € 32.2 million box office * 5.1 million admissions * 66 countries

The TOP 7 films, which took € 12.6 million box office and attracted 2.2 million film-goers into the cinemas, are all majority German productions.


This is more than a third of the total box office for all German productions and co-productions:

LATTE IGEL AND THE MAGIC WATERSTONE € 2.6 million in 14 territories
YAKARI, A SPECTACULAR JOURNEY € 2.5 million in 6 territories
DRAGON RIDER € 1.7 million in 10 territories
LASSIE COME HOME € 1.6 million in 17 territories
OOOPS! 2 – THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES € 1.4 million in 3 territories
THE ELFKINS – BAKING A DIFFERENCE € 1.4 million in 11 territories
VICKY THE VIKING € 1.4 million in 12 territories


Compared to the previous year, box office and admissions visitor numbers fell by 65% as a result of the pandemic.

A detailed analysis of the international figures for 2020 is likely to be available here on our website from the end of February.



Impressum


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