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German Films Previews Turn 10
By Martin Blaney | July 23, 2010
Bavaria International's Stefanie Zeitler (right) with Russian distributors, courtesy: Klaas Dierks/German Films
The 10th edition of the German Films Previews saw the showcase of new German productions being presented to around 90 international buyers in Hamburg for the first time from July 15-18. Previously, the event had been held in Munich (six times) and Cologne (the past three years), but the promotion agency German Films decided to travel further north to Hamburg to give the foreign guests a taste of another part of Germany.
The 2010 edition was organised with support from the regional film fund Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Studio Hamburg and Hamburg Marketing, and attracted buyers from as far afield as China, Japan, USA, Colombia, Thailand, Taiwan and Australia as well as most European territories.
The 19-title programme of screenings in the CinemaxX multiplex ranged from Eric Friedler’s docu-drama Aghet about the genocide perpetrated against the Armenians between 1915 and 1918 and Christine Hartmann’s family film Hanni & Nanni through Joseph Vilsmaier’s Himalayan drama Nanga Parbat to Baran bo Odar’s The Silence (Das letzte Schweigen) which had its world premiere at June’s Filmfest München and will be screened on the Piazza Grande in Locarno in August.
Beta Cinema's Andreas Rothbauer with buyers from China, courtesy: Klaas Dierks/German Films
The buyers were also able to see such films Wolfgang Panzer’s The Day Of The Cat (Der grosse Kater), which boasted a stellar cast including Bruno Ganz, Marie Bäumer, and Ulrich Tukur, as well as the family film Tiger-Team, Ralf Huettner’s box-office success Vincent Wants To Sea (Vincent Will Meer), and Uli Edel’s rapper biopic Electric Ghetto (Zeiten ändern dich).
In addition, promo-reels were shown of such forthcoming films as Tom Tykwer’s urban love story Three (Drei), Adnan G. Köse’s musical fairytale Homies and Lars Kraume’s futuristic drama The Days To Come (Die kommenden Tage).
Apart from catching new films on the big screen or in the DVD library, the international guests also had an opportunity to become acquainted with the delights of the city of Hamburg – from a trip through the container harbour to a guided tour by night of the famous St. Pauli district and the Reeperbahn – as well as to meet members of the local film industry such as producers Klaus Maeck (Corazon Film International) and Ute Schneider (schneider+groos filmproduktion), film funder Eva Hubert and film director Fatih Akin.
Not surprisingly, the buyers flocked to see the promo-teaser for Tykwer’s film Drei – his first film in German for around 10 years – and also took the opportunity to catch Hungarian director Benedek Fliegauf’s first English language film Womb which will have its world premiere in Locarno’s Official Competition in August.
Another big draw was the Norwegian film Home For Christmas by Bent Hamer, which will presumably premiere at one of the autumn festivals this year.
Other films creating a “buzz” among the buyers included The Day Of The Cat, Vincent Wants To Sea, Oliver Schmitz’s Un Certain Regard film Life, Above All, and Srdjan Koljevic’s The Woman With a Broken Nose which has been invited to show at the Raindance, Warsaw and Hof film festivals this autumn.
The move to Hamburg for the German Films Previews was deemed a great success with the participants who had to walk only a small distance from the recently renovated Radisson Blu hotel to the CinemaxX multiplex for their screenings each day.
So, here’s to the 11th edition being staged in the North German city next July!
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