Dear Readers,
The arrival of summer this year also marked the return of cinema, at least to a certain extent: after a long period when the film industry could only meet virtually or at best via hybrid events, and viewers had to forego their visits to the cinema, now a slight sigh of relief may be heard. Major A-list festivals such as Cannes, Locarno or Karlovy Vary could take place as attended live events and experienced a veritable influx of audiences.
German films also came across well: In Locarno, Saskia Rosendahl was awarded Best Actress in the section Cineasti del presente for her role in Sabrina Sarabi‘s film NO ONE’S WITH THE CALVES (Weydemann Bros.), while Abel Ferrara won Best Director for ZEROS AND ONES (DE/UK/US), primarily produced by the German company Maze Pictures.
Karlovy Vary brought further successes, as Dietrich Brüggemann received the Best Director Award for his work on NÖ (Flare Film) and the major German production THE EXAM (DE/KRD-IQ/QA, Mitosfilm) by Shawkat Amin Korki won the FIPRESCI Award. In Venice, the German co-production IL BUCO (IT/DE/FR, Essential Filmproduktion) won several awards – another sign of Germany‘s increasing relevance as an international co-production partner; and SPENCER (DE/GB, Komplizen Film) filled the cinemas in Toronto after celebrating its world premiere in Venice.
At the end of August, German Films introduced a German focus at the world‘s largest series festival SÉRIES MANIA in Lille. The live presentation “Coming next from Germany“, which featured five brand new high-end series as well as the panel “FACE TO FACE with German Filmmakers: Serious about Series“ met with a positive response, so endorsing Germany as an address for outstanding series productions of international quality.
In addition to supporting German productions at international festivals, in recent months German Films itself has again organised festivals of German film: In cooperation with the local Goethe-Institutes in Buenos Aires and Paris, we invited people to enjoy films together. Selected German features, documentaries and shorts were shown, such as THE CASE YOU, LE PRINCE or FABIAN – GOING TO THE DOGS, some of which were presented by their cast and crew in person.
Following this positive mood over the summer, we are looking forward to upcoming festivals like Busan, Warsaw, Tallinn or the IDFA, and hoping for a successful autumn with cinema box offices continuing to recover from the still noticeable consequences of the Corona Pandemic.
German Films wishes you a good start into 2022 – hopefully without the need for another lockdown and with many breath-taking film moments.
Yours, Simone Baumann
Managing Director