14/10/2009

Florian Gallenberger picked up the Audience Award at the 14th Festival of German Films in Paris (September 30-October 6) for his biopic John Rabe [+see also:
trailer
film profile], set during the Nanjing massacre of 1937-38.

The event opened with Andreas Dresen's Whisky With Vodka [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andreas Dresen
film profile] (winner of Best Director at Karlovy Vary), which was presented to French audiences by actor Henry Huebchen and producer Christoph Mueller.

Other directors on hand to present their films were Oskar Roehler (Lulu & Jimi [+see also:
trailer
film profile]); Romuald Karmakar (of the collective project Germany 09 [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Stefan Krohmer (Dutschke), Susanne Schneider (The Day Will Come); as well as actress Anne Consigny (John Rabe).

Other titles in the line-up included Lars Jessen’s Small-Town Punks [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Kai Wessel’s Hilde [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Esther Gronenborn’s Kaifeck Murder [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Marcus H. Rosenmueller’s film for young people Little White Lies [+see also:
trailer
film profile], and the short films of Next Generation 2009.

There was also a screening of Storm [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alexander Fehling
interview: Hans-Christian Schmid
film profile], accompanied by director Hans-Christian Schmid (European Parliament's LUX Prize 2009 competition).

Six shorts were programmed in cooperation with AG Kurzfilm as supporting films: Breathe (Lei Xue), For Mathilde (Alla Churikova), Hocus-Pocus (Anna Samoylovich), Dog’s Devotion (Anna Kalus), When We are in Heaven (Daniela Risch) and In Between (Mischa Leinkauf, Matthias Wermke).

The Goethe-Institut in Paris programmed the documentaries Off Ways by Uli M. Schueppel and Material by Thomas Heise on the subject “Le Mur en doc”. A further highlight was the six-hour screening of Ulrike Ottinger's Southeast Passage.

The occasion helped Anne Tallineau, the new foreign representative of German Films for France, intensify contacts with the film industries of both countries.