07/06/2009

Despite the general economic crisis, approximately 5,000 Spanish cinemagoers attended the 11th Festival of German Films in Madrid (June 2-6).

The festival opened the sold-out screening of Hilde [+see also:
trailer
film profile], presented by director Kai Wessel and producer Judy Tossell, on the life of Hildegard Knef. The film went on to receive the Audience Award.

Other guests at the festival were directors Jovan Arsenic (Heroes from the Neighbourhood), Tom Schreiber (Dr. Alemán [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), Hannes Stoehr (Berlin Calling [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and Stefan Weinert (Face the Wall); producer Tina Hegewisch (Long Shadows [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]); and screenwriter Oliver Keidel (Dr. Alemán). Tim Bollinger came to Madrid to present Next Generation 2009 and introduce his five-minute film Between.

The main program also featured Max Faerberboeck’s A Woman in Berlin [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Caroline Link’s A Year Ago in Winter [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and the TV film Das Wunder Von Leipzig by Sebastian Dehnhardt and Matthias Schmidt.

This year's retrospective, 20 Years After the Fall of the Berlin Wall, also included a panel discussion on the documentary Face the Wall.

Over 600 schoolchildren from the German and Swiss School in Madrid got to enjoy Marcus H. Rosenmüller’s Die Perlmutterfarbe. A special highlight to round off the festival was the screening of Fritz Lang's silent film Spies, with live musical accompaniment.

Spanish audiences’ great interest in German cinema was again very evident at the annual distributors' dinner, which German Films hosted for local distributors and German international sales companies.

Event partners were Lufthansa, the German embassy in Madrid, the Goethe-Institut in Madrid, Transit Film, F.W. Murnau Foundation, GEO, Kodak, AG Kurzfilm, AG Dok and Ocho y Medio.