Editor

Together with German Films, the Goethe Institut is organising a German Film Week for the first time from 8 - 14 August, 2008 in the famous Lavanya Cinema of the Indian metropolis of Bangalore.

The program will open on 8 August with REQUIEM by Hans-Christian Schmid. DISTANT LIGHTS (LICHTER) by the same director will also be shown in the program.

Other films screening are: THE EDGE OF HEAVEN (AUF DER ANDEREN SEITE) and HEAD-ON (GEGEN DIE WAND) by Fatih Akin, THE EDUKATORS (DIE FETTEN JAHRE SIND VORBEI) by Hans Weingartner, A FRIEND OF MINE (EIN FREUND VON MIR) by Sebastian Schipper, GHOSTS (GESPENSTER) by Christian Petzold, CHERRY BLOSSOMS (KIRSCHBLUETEN) by Doris Doerrie, KROKO by Sylke Enders, NOTHING BUT GHOSTS (NICHTS ALS GESPENSTER) by Martin Gypkens, STATUS YO! by Til Hastreiter, FOUR MINUTES (VIER MINUTEN) by Chris Kraus, TRUTH OR DARE (WAHRHEIT ODER PFLICHT) by Arne Nolting and Jan Martin Scharf, WARCHILD by Christian Wagner and GRAVE DECISIONS (WER FRUEHER STIRBT, IST LAENGER TOT) by Marcus H. Rosenmueller.

The younger cinema-goers will be offered a varied program with films for children and young people: THE BLIND FLYERS (DIE BLINDGAENGER) by Bernd Sahling, EMIL AND THE DETECTIVES (EMIL UND DIE DETEKTIVE) by Franziska Buch, THE FLYING CLASSROOM (DAS FLIEGENDE KLASSENZIMMER) by Tommy Wigand, CHILDREN OF THE MOON (MONDSCHEINKINDER) by Manuela Stacke, PAULA'S SECRET (PAULAS GEHEIMNIS) by Gernot Krää and SERGEANT PEPPER by Sandra Nettelbeck.

The interest in German cinema has also grown considerably in India in recent years. Several of the current films have an Indian distributor (incl. THE EDGE OF HEAVEN and CHERRY BLOSSOMS) and will be released shortly in Indian cinemas. In addition, the International Film Festival of India – Goa and the international film festival in Kolkata will be presenting a large number of German films to their audiences this year. More information on this will be announced at a later date.

German Films had already organised an umbrella stand for German producers and sales agents in April at the media trade fair FICCI FRAMES in Mumbai. The interest of the Indian film industry in co-productions was very large. The rapid developments in the Indian market, especially in the IT industry, moreover boosts the sales potential for German films.