26/10/2006

A total of 19 German and German-international productions are represented this year in various sections of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, of which six are in the competition sections: My Father the Turk by Ariane Riecker and Marcus Vetter, Village of Socks by Klaudia Begic and Ileana Stanculescu (Germany/Romania) and A Story of People in War and Peace by Vardan Hovhannisyan (Armenia/UK/Germany/France/Finland) will be running in the Joris Ivens Competition for feature-length films; The Prisoner: Or How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair by Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker (US/Germany) in the Silver Wolf Competition for films up to 60 minutes; as well as Calcutta Calling by André Hoermann in the Silver Cub Competition for shorts up to 30 minutes. Sugartown: The Bridegrooms by Kimon Tsakiris (Greece/Germany) will be competing in First Appearance for the prize of Best Debut Film.

The awards in the competition sections include prize-money totalling €30,000.

German films are also well represented in the other sections: Reflecting Images will be presenting On the Outskirts by Aysun Bademsoy, Women at the Wheel by Fang Yu, Before Flying Back to the Earth by Arunas Matelis (Germany/Lithuania), The Bittner Case by Caterina Woj and Die Hochstapler by Alexander Adolph.

The ParaDocs section is showing The Kick by Andres Veiel as well as the shorts The Hong Kong Showcase by Michael Brynntrup and Joerg Wagner's Motodrome.

Cigaretta mon amour – Portrait meines Vaters by Rosa Hannah Ziegler, God’s Ways by Eva Neymann and JABA by Andreas Bolm can be seen in the new section IDFAcademy for student productions.

Kids & Docs will show Ein Sohn Der Taiga by Andreas Voigt, while the sidebar TOP 10 Alan Berliner will present Walter Ruttmann's classic Berlin.Die Sinfonie der Grosstadt The FORUM for International Co-financing of Documentaries – the largest of its kind in Europe – will again be held within the framework of the festival, from November 27-29. Three German projects are also among those selected for the pitching forum: The Tunnel of Sarajevo (Engstfeld Film), Heavenly Voices – The Domspatzen (Tangram Christian Bauer Film) and The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Zero One Film).