18TH FESTIVAL OF GERMAN FILMS IN BUENOS AIRES

The Festival of German Films in Buenos Aires attracted 6,000 spectators this year to the Village Cines Recoleta and Caballito cinemas. The audience’s passion for German cinema is not only demonstrated in figures, but also in the enthusiastic reception given to the filmmakers when they come to Buenos Aires. The director Hans Weingartner opened this year’s 18th edition (which took place from 13-19 September) with his new film 303, which world premiered as the opening film of the Berlinale’s GENERATION sidebar. And all three screenings of the film during the festival were sold out!

In total, 15 German feature films and documentaries as well as the German Films program of short films NEXT GENERATION SHORT TIGER were shown over the course of the festival week. Local audiences had the opportunity to see the whole range of German filmmaking: from genre cinema to arthouse, from international festival successes of such festivals as Berlin, Locarno, Toronto and Shanghai to documentaries and family entertainment. In cooperation with the Goethe-Institut in Buenos Aires, the program was complemented by the silent film classic JOURNEY INTO THE NIGHT by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau with musical accompaniment by Marcelo Katz playing one of his own compositions. The festival’s audience award when to WEIT by Gwendolin Weisser and Patrick Allgaier.

As in previous years, the Argentinian VOD provider QubitTV also accompanied the festival with an online presence, giving Argentinian film buffs the chance to also see even more German films on the “small screen“.

Hans Weingartner with Argentinian fans