Editor

Major success for THE MIRACLE OF BERN (DAS WUNDER VON BERN) in London

The Export-Union opened the sixth Festival of German Cinema in London with
THE MIRACLE OF BERN/DAS WUNDER VON BERN (27 November to 4 December 2003).
The British cinemagoers were not put off by the legend of the German
football victory . At a sold-out performance, director Sönke Wortmann and
the main actors Peter Lohmeyer and Louis Klamroth answered the questions
from an enthusiastic audience who were just as interested in the film's
historical background as in the football.

The audience chose ELEPHANT HEART - which is also about sport on the
surface - as the festival's favourite film. Director Züli Aladag had come to
London to present his film in person to the British public.

Directors Robert Schwentke (THE FAMILY JEWELS/EIERDIEBE), Christian Wagner
(GHETTOKIDS), Marc Ottiker (1/2 RENT/HALBE MIETE), Sülbiye Günar (KARAMUK)
and Horst Krassa (OVER NIGHT/ÜBER NACHT), also had a very large and
interested audience for their films.

The questions of many young cinemagoers were answered by director Tomy
Wigand after an almost sold-out afternoon screening of THE FLYING CLASSROOM
(DAS FLIEGENDE KLASSENZIMMER).

The Rainer Werner Fassbinder retrospective showed how strong Fassbinder's
influence still is in Great Britain almost 20 years after his death. Juliane
Lorenz, the president and CEO of the Fassbinder Foundation and filmmaker
Robert Fischer (FASSBINDER IN HOLLYWOOD) participated in a very lively
podium discussion with the audience.

At the German Dox programme organised by the Goethe-Institut, the audiences
had an opportunity to get to know some documentary filmmakers. Bernd Fischer
(HELLO FROM DACHAU/GRÜSSE AUS DACHAU), Jochen Hick (TALK STRAIGHT - THE
WORLD OF RURAL QUEERS/ICH KENN KEINEN-ALLEIN UNTER HETEROS) and Christoph
Hübner (THE CHAMPIONS/DIE CHAMPIONS) presented their films in person .

Following the screening of the NEXT GENERATION 2003 short film programme,
Jasper Ahrens, a film student at the HFF “Konrad Wolf”, gave the audience a
chance to ask questions about studying film in Germany.

After the event in London a selection of the films were shown at the Irish
Film Institute in Dublin.

The event's partners were: the BKM, the German Federal Film Board (FFA),
FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Film Förderung
Hamburg, Filmstiftung NRW, Filmförderung Baden-Württemberg, Mitteldeutsche
Medienförderung, nordmedia and the Goethe-Institut in London.

The festival was sponsored by: AG Kurzfilm, Erdinger Weißbräu, Kodak, multi
logistics, Pritchard Englefield Solicitors, Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Foundation and the legal practice Schwarz Kelwing Wicke Westphahl.