11/10/2005

Kick-off tomorrow in Paris for the 10th German Film Festival organised in Paris by German Films and the Goethe Institute. Until18th October, cinephiles and professionals from the French film industry can discover the current tendencies of the German 7th art thanks to a selection of 12 features, shorts and a programme of films from the schools baptised Next Generation 2005, a section ‘Les coups de cœur’ from the public, a raft of documentaries with six co-productions from Arte and a retrospective of the history of German cinema with 15 important films of the century.

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Well attended by French distributors on the look-out for a deal, the feature programme boasts this year Sophie Scholl [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Marc Rothemund, German candidate in the nominations for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. Also on the menu L’Été à Berlin by Andreas Dresen which will open the festival, One Day in Europe by Hannes Stöhr (in competition at the recent Berlinale), Adil s’en va by Esther Gronenborn, Monsieur Zucker joue son va-tout by Dani Levy (best director and screenplay prize at the German Film Awards 2005), Le Pêcheur et sa Femme by Doris Dörrie, Le Dernier Voyage de Maria de Rainer Kaufmann, Au pays de la neige by Hans W. Geissendörfer (Special Jury Grand Prix at the Montreal festival), the first feature by Robert Thalheim (Netto), Gisela by Isabelle Stever, La Main dans le sac by Florian Schwarz and the successful animated film Laura's Star from the duo Piet De Rycker - Thilo Graf Rothkirch.

Almost totally absent from the French screens for years, German cinema has rediscovered the road to French cinemas thanks to the success of Good Bye Lenin [+see also:
trailer
interview: Wolfgang Becker
film profile], The Downfall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bernd Eichinger
interview: Joachim Fest
interview: Oliver Hirschbiegel
film profile] and Head On [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. However, distributors remain prudent since the disappointing results of other German productions weighs heavily on their minds (7000 admissions for Schultze Gets the Blues by Michael schorr and 5000 for Une famille allemande by Oskar Roehler). Hence the importance of a Paris event such as this which offers the discovery and evaluation of German cinema and its new talent. Note that the programme will be taken to Lyon, Marseille and Toulouse and that among the partners for the event are MFG Medien-und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MDM, Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern (FFF), FilmFörderung Hamburg and the German Federal Film Board (FFA).

(Translated from French)