Editor

Full houses and strong interest from the audience: that is the end result of the 6th German Panorama at the Warsaw International Film Festival (12.-21.10.) and the Days of German Cinema which were held after the festival in Cracow (26.10.-1.11.). In Warsaw alone, more than 3,500 cinema-goers saw the 13 German films in the country focus German Panorama which was opened in festive manner by the German Ambassador Michael H. Gerdts. HOUNDS (JAGDHUNDE) by Ann-Kristin Reyels was shown as the opening film, with lead actress Luise Berndt and producer Fabian Pöhlmann participating in a Q&A with the audience after the screening.

A further highlight at the festival was the Polish premiere of AND ALONG COME TOURISTS (AM ENDE KOMMEN TOURISTEN) by Robert Thalheim which ran in the New Films, New Directors competition. The director was joined by the two lead actors Ryszard Ronczewski and Alexander Fehling and producer Britta Knoeller for the presentation and they all took part in a discussion with the audience after the sold out performance. A promising signal for the film's theatrical release in Poland – the distributor SPI Polska will release the film there in 2008. Also very well attended were the screenings of the documentary HAVANNA – DIE NEUE KUNST, RUINEN ZU BAUEN by Florian Borchmeyer and Matthias Hentschler.

The film not only found favour with the Warsaw audience: during the Distributors’ Lunch organised by German Films it was learnt that a distributor is keen to release the film in Polish cinemas.

The directors Michael Schorr (SCHROEDER'S WONDERFUL WORLD/SCHROEDERS WUNDERBARE WELT) and Volker Koepp (SONS/SOEHNE) as well as the short film director Claudia Lehmann (MEMORYEFFEKT) were also pleased about the lively discussions with the Polish audiences. There was also a big crowd at the premiere of Volker Schloendorff's ULZHAN (KZ/DE/FR) in the presence of the director – the film was shown in the section entitled The Master’s Touch.

A part of the Warsaw programme was subsequently presented at the Days of German Cinema organised by German Films together with the Nuernberg-Haus in Cracow. The actresses Barbara Wysocka and Halina Kwiatkowska joined the above-mentioned guests for the opening film AND ALONG COME TOURISTS (AM ENDE KOMMEN TOURISTEN). The journalist and author Michal Olszewski moderated the 90-minute discussion with the audience.