Munich's Lord Mayer Christian Ude officially opened the 27th Munich International Festival of Film Schools on Sunday, November 18. From November 19 to 24, the best student films from around the world will be screened in the Munich Filmmuseum (St.-Jakobs-Platz 1). This year 39 films from 28 film schools in 20 countries will be competing for prizes worth a total of € 50,000.

There are moving dramas such as MILAN from Germany, which deals with the collateral damage of war, bittersweet comedies such as ALMOST SIX FEET TOO DEEP (Slovenia) about a totally dysfunctional family, films like the Australian CATCH FISH which defy categorization (about the relationship between man and fish) and tender love stories like MEI from the USA about a young man who keeps missing the right moment to tell a girl he loves her.

Aside from the many prizes, what makes the Munich festival so attractive to film students is the chance to show their films to a large audience, many of them for the very first time. The screenings have been almost 100% sold out over the past few years. In addition to the many film professionals, journalists and filmmakers, there are plenty of normal moviegoers who are interested in what the future of cinema holds.

The awards ceremony will take place on November 24 at 6 pm in the Gloria-Palast cinema. This year's jury president is internationally acclaimed director of photography Michael Ballhaus.