After ten days, this year's edition of Filmfest München (23 June-2 July), the second-biggest festival in Germany after the Berlinale, has come to an end. Besides the main competition dedicated to international films, mostly shown shortly beforehand at festivals such as Cannes or Venice, Filmfest München is particularly highly valued for serving as a window on contemporary German cinema.

A series of awards are given out in this context by a jury of three young talents in four categories. This year’s jury was composed of actress Almila Bagriacik (Nimby – Not in My Back Yard [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Sophie Linnenbaum
scheda film]. Linnenbaum is already the creator of a series of documentaries. After Munich, her feature, a tragicomic social satire, for which she wrote the screenplay together with Michael Fetter Nathansky (Sag Du Es Mir [+leggi anche:
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The jury in Munich foresees a great future for the helmer: “The director blends everything into one, harmonious whole and excels in countless bursts of directorial inspiration. Yet she always makes time for the quiet parts as well – because she knows that a good comedy is only one step away from tragedy.” The Ordinaries also snagged the Award for Best Production, which went to producers Britta Stampe and Laura Klippel. Indeed, the jury was full of praise for them: “You have to rub your eyes in amazement: is this supposed to be a graduation film made at university? The film has what feels like a multimillion-dollar budget. The talent assembled in front of and behind the camera is unbelievable; the complexity of the design is awe-inspiring. Britta Strampe and Laura Klippel from Bandenfilm have produced a film that is both entertaining and clever. To them, astuteness and entertainment are not a contradiction in terms. The world needs such producers – and we see a great future in store for both of them!”

The Award for the Best Screenplay went to Everybody Wants to Be Loved [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], written by director Katharina Woll together with Florian Plumeyer. Their movie, starring Anne Ratte-Polle in the main role, tells the story of a middle-aged woman and psychiatrist trying to fulfil the expectations of everyone in her family and those of her patients, but losing sight of her own necessities and wishes. In its motivation, the jury stated: “It’s a sophisticated array of characters with conflicting wants and needs. Everybody wants to be loved, yes, but most importantly, everybody threatens everybody else: the daughter with moving out, the husband with moving away, the mother with her very existence. The dialogue in the film is incisive and believable, and gets to the heart of conversations in relationships. That’s what makes it so poignant – and so entertaining.”

The fourth prize handed out in the context of the German Cinema New Talent Award was the one for Best Acting Performance, which went to Lena Schmidtke for her turn as a young, single mother in the drama Rage at Kuba by Naira Cavero Orihuel. The drama is her graduate film from the University of Television and Film Munich, where she is studying Direction.

Besides the section for German films, the festival also has a CineMasters competition, in which several other prizes were awarded. The main one is the ARRI Award, sponsored by the festival's long-time partner ARRI. The jury, composed of German producer Philipp Kreuzer (Isolation [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Arman T. Riahi
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Furthermore, in the third competition of the festival, the CineVision Award for Best International Emerging Film went to Aftersun [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Scottish helmer Charlotte Wells. The coming-of-age drama and intimate portrait of a father-daughter relationship was appreciated by the jury, who expressed their feelings in the following way: “This film is a true CineVision. The view through the camcorder immediately connects us emotionally to father and daughter, and their loving relationship. This film manages to take us on a holiday that we can all identify with. We smell the air, taste the sea, feel the heat on our skin, feel the chlorine in our eyes. With humour, love and lightness, we are drawn to our memories, even when they leave us paralysed.”

This year, the festival added a new competition to its programme. The CineRebels section is “a platform for format breakers, film adventurers and cinephile film taste”, according to the event. The first award in this section went to the family drama Cook F**k Kill [+leggi anche:
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Here is the complete list of award winners at the 2022 Filmfest München:

German Cinema New Talent Award – Best Director

The Ordinaries [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Sophie Linnenbaum
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German Cinema New Talent Award – Best Screenplay

Florian Plumeyer and Katharina Woll - Everybody Wants to Be Loved (Germany)

German Cinema New Talent Award – Best Production

Britta Strampe and Laura Klippel - The Ordinaries

German Cinema New Talent Award – Best Acting Performance

Lena Schmidtke - Rage at Kuba (Germany)

ARRI Award for Best International Film

Broker - Hirokazu Kore-eda (Japan)
Honourable Mention
Leila's Brothers – Saeed Roustaee (Iran)

Cinevision Award for Best International Emerging Film

Aftersun [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] – Charlotte Wells (UK)
Honourable Mention
War Pony – Riley Keough (USA)

CineRebels Award
Cook F**k Kill [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mira Fornay
scheda film] – Mira Fornay (Czech Republic/Slovakia)

FIPRESCI Award
Elfriede Jelinek – Language Unleashed – Claudia Müller (Germany)

Bayern 2 and SZ Audience Award

Kiss My Wounds [+leggi anche:
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CineMerit Award
Alba Rohrwacher

Bernd Burgemeister TV Movie Award
As Loud As You Can – Esther Bialas (Germany)
King of Stonks – Jan Bonny (Germany, series)