Every year since 2016, German Films, the national institution in charge of promoting German talents internationally, has introduced a selection of emerging names from the film industry through its Face to Face campaign. German Films is using the prestigious setting of the Berlinale to give the campaign the biggest possible impact. Seven newcomers from different fields are represented in this eighth edition.

“The focus of this year's campaign is on multifaceted talents representing the German film industry, with the goal of bringing about a sustainable and diverse future,” says German Films managing director Simone Baumann. “It is our aim to increase their visibility and to strengthen the promotion of their projects abroad. With their different biographies and professional backgrounds, they have the potential to cross borders and represent the creativity of film internationally,” continues Baumann.

This year’s seven promising talents are author Sönke Anderesen, who has contributed to the screenplays of several feature films, TV productions and series, such as the recent works The Peacock by director Lutz Heineking Jr and Orphea in Love by Alex Ranisch; Berlin-based, Guinea-Bissau-born actor Welket Bungué, who has starred in international productions like Berlin Alexanderplatz [+lire aussi :
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interview : Burhan Qurbani
fiche film] by Burhan Qurbani, in the Berlinale competition in 2020, and Crimes of the Future [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by David Cronenberg, in the Cannes competition in 2022; composer Dascha Dauenhauer, who was born in Moscow, moved to Germany and graduated in Film Music at the University of Babelsberg, and was in charge of composing the score for the German series The Swarm [+lire aussi :
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interview : Leonie Benesch
fiche série] as well as the feature Golda [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Israeli filmmaker Guy Nattiv; German-Vietnamese actress-director Alison Kuhn, who received the German Documentary Film Prize for Art and Culture in 2020 for her documentary The Case You [+lire aussi :
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interview : Alison Kuhn
fiche film] and is now preparing for the production of two new features; writer and animation film director Reza Memari, who now, after his first feature-length animation, Richard the Stork [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], is working on a multi-format animated universe bearing the title The Last Whale Singer; writer-director Lukas Nathrath, whose first feature, One Last Evening [+lire aussi :
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interview : Lukas Nathrath
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fiche film] by Leonie Krippendorff and Franky Five Star by Birgit Moeller.

The talents are set to be introduced to the international film industry at a panel event, where they will be able to network and meet colleges from all around the globe.

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