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FESTIVALS Germany

Record audiences at 9th Festival of German Films in Moscow

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German Films and the Goethe Institut Russia broke audience records for the 9th Festival of German Films in Moscow (December 2-7), with over 6,000 admissions. Seven of the eight feature films screened to sold-out crowds in the 550-seat cinema.

Particular favourites were Audience Award winner Friendship! [+see also:
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by Markus Goller, closely followed by Ralf Huettner’s opening film Vincent Wants to Sea, which sparked interest among Russian distributors during the festival, and Dietrich Brüggemann’s Run If You Can [+see also:
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Opening night guests Florian David Fitz and Johannes Allmayer, the stars of Vincent, were enthusiastically received by the young festival audience, as were Friendship! producers Tom Zickler, Max Wiedemann and Marco Beckmann. The latter film was released in Russia by Cascade on December 9 following its premiere at the festival.

Lead actor Devid Striesow of Alexander Adolph’s closing night film I’ve Never Been Happier was also in Moscow.

Documentaries got a new platform this year, the Art Doc Festival, held in Moscow at the same time as the Festival of German Films. Pink Taxi by Uli Gaulke, also present in Moscow, screened in Art Doc’s International Competition before playing again at the latter venue.

Other titles on the line-up included Feo Aladag’s 2010 Lux Prize winner When We Leave [+see also:
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interview: Feo Aladag
interview: Feo Aladag
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(see news), Thomas Arslan’s In the Shadows [+see also:
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interview: Thomas Arslan
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, Joseph Vilsmaier’s Nanga Parbat [+see also:
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, Christoph Hochhäusler’s The City Below [+see also:
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interview: Christoph Hochhäusler
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, children’s film Princess Lillifee [+see also:
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by Alan Simpson and Ansgar Niebuhr, and the short films programme Next Generation 2010, presented by two directors of the omnibus project, Rosana Cuellar and Ana-Felicia Scutelnicu.

The Goethe Institut also held a min-retrospective on Hans Weingartner.

Once again, the festival toured through Russia: the program was screened for the seventh time in St. Petersburg (December 3-6) and for the third in Novosibirsk (December 8-12).

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