International Film Festival Rotterdam

A good start to the year for cinema from Germany: a total of 43 German films and co-productions can be seen at the 44^th Rotterdam International Film Festival which is one of the most important festivals in Europe. Five titles with German participation have been programmed in the competitions for feature films and shorts.

The Hivos Tiger Awards Competition is reserved for first and second feature films. This is where the Swiss-German co-production ABOVE AND BELOW (Flying Moon Filmproduktion), the director Nicolas Steiner's graduation film at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, will celebrate its international premiere. The documentary is about five survivors in an apocalyptic world at places like the flood channels of Las Vegas, the Californian desert, a simulated mission to Mars or in the desert of Utah. Nicolas Steiner was one of the participants in German Films' program of shorts, NEXT GENERATION SHORT TIGER, in 2010.

The Netherlands' largest festival will present the world premiere of the documentary EL LEGADO (DE/CL, DFFB) about two women in the South of Chile in the Bright Future sidebar for first and second feature films. Director Roberto Anjari-Rossi was born in Chile and studied Directing at the German Film & Television Academy (DFFB). EL LEGADO is his graduation film.

The festival hit THE CHAMBERMAID LYNN by Ingo Haeb (Sutor Kolonko, 58Filme, Pandora Filmproduktion) can now be seen in Rotterdam after such festivals as Munich, Montreal, Rio de Janeiro and Zürich, and is one of ten films from the Bright Future and Spectrum sidebars which have been nominated for the Big Screen Award. This award will be decided on by an audience jury and includes a € 10,000 prize to support the theatrical release in the Netherlands.

There are also world premieres of German films in other festival sections: GERMAN ANGST by Jörg Buttgereit, Michal Kosakowski and Andreas Marschall (KOSAKOWSKI FILMS) will screen in Signals: Really? Really. which focuses on surrealism. It uses mystery arthouse horror to refer back to the Expressionist horror tradition of the 1920s and shows three urban nightmare stories in the streets of Berlin. The short documentaries THE VISIT and DIE SECHSTE JAHRESZEIT by Jan Soldat can be seen in Signals: 24/7.

All of the German films and co-productions in Rotterdam in 2015:

Hivos Tiger Awards Competition

ABOVE AND BELOW by Nicolas Steiner (CH/DE, Flying Moon Filmproduktion)

THE PROJECT OF THE CENTURY by Carlos Machado Quintela (CU/AR/DE, Raspberry & Cream)

Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films

OUR BODY by Dane Komljen (RS/DE)

RAKING LIGHT by James Richards

THE MANY COLORS OF THE SKY RADIATE FORGETFULNESS by Basim Magdy (EG/DE)

Bright Future

EL CINCO by Adrian Biniez (UY/FR/NL/DE/AR, Pandora Filmproduktion)

EL LEGADO by Roberto Anjari-Rossi (DE/CL, DFFB)

LIMBO by Anna Sofie Hartmann (DFFB)

LOS HONGOS by Oscar Ruiz Navia (CO/FR/AR/DE, unafilm)

MEN WHO SAVE THE WORLD by Liew Seng Tat (MY/NL/DE/FR, Flying Moon Filmproduktion)

NN by Héctor Gálvez (PE/DE/FR/CO, Autentika Films)

WE ARE YOUNG. WE ARE STRONG. (WIR SIND JUNG. WIR SIND STARK.) by Burhan Qurbani (UFA Fiction)

Spectrum

BELOVED SISTERS (DIE GELIEBTEN SCHWESTERN) by Dominik Graf (Bavaria Filmverleih- & Produktion, Senator Film Produktion, Kiddinx Filmproduktion)

JAUJA by Lisandro Alonso (AR/US/NL/FR/MX/DK/DE, The Match Factory)

THE CHAMBERMAID LYNN (DAS ZIMMERMÄDCHEN LYNN) by Ingo Haeb (Sutor Kolonko, 58Filme, Pandora Filmproduktion)

Limelight

A BLAST by Syllas Tzoumerkas (GR/DE/NL, Unafilm)

AMOUR FOU by Jessica Hausner (AT/LU/DE, Essential Film)

ATLANTIC. by Jan-Willem van Ewijk (NL/BE/DE/MA, Endorphine Production)

PHOENIX by Christian Petzold (Schramm Film Koerner & Weber)

THE FAREWELL PARTY by Sharon Maymon & Tal Granit (IL/DE, Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion)

THE WONDERS by Alice Rohrwacher (IT/CH/DE, Pola Pandora Filmproduktion)

TWO SHOTS FIRED by Martín Rejtman (AR/CL/DE/NL, Pandora Filmproduktion)

As Long As It Takes: Short & Mid-Length

CLOUD SHADOW (WOLKENSCHATTEN) by Juan David González Monroy & Anja Dornieden

MY BBY 8L3W by Neozoon (DE/FR)

PRIMATE COLORS by Elke Marhöfer & Mikhail Lylov (HK/DE)

SUPERSMILE by Effie Wu

THE SATANIC THICKET – ONE (DAS SATANISCHE DICKICHT – EINS) by Willy Hans

ZEMENT by Bettina Nürnberg & Dirk Peuker (AT/DE)

Signals: 24/7

ALWAYS HERE by Steffen Köhn

THE SCAR BERLIN (DIE NARBE BERLIN) by Burkhard von Harder (BVH Pictures)  

Signals: Really? Really.

ANNA by Bruno Sukrow

A PIGEON SAT ON A BRANCH REFLECTING ON EXISTENCE by Roy Anderson (SE/DE/FR/NOR, Essential Filmproduktion) )

GERMAN ANGST by Jörg Buttgereit, Michal Kosakowski & Andreas Marschall (KOSAKOWSKI FILMS)

JESUS – THE FILM (JESUS – DER FILM) by Michael Brynntrup (MBC Filmproduktion)

MORGEN by Doris Kuhn )

The Poacher Woman of the Montafon (Die Wilderin vom Montafon) by Evamaria Schaller (DE/AT, Academy of Media Arts Cologne)

THE SIXTH SEASON (DIE SECHSTE JAHRESZEIT) by Jan Soldat

THE VISIT (DER BESUCH) by Jan Soldat

Signals: Regained

DREAMS REWIRED (MOBILISIERUNG DER TRÄUME) by Martin Reinhardt, Thomas Tode & Manu Luksch (AT/DE, Bildschön Filmproduktion)

FABRIC by Christoph Girardet

REMAKE, REMIX, RIPOFF von Cem Kaya (UFA FICTION)

IFFR+

THE LIES OF THE VICTORS (DIE LÜGEN DER SIEGER) by Christoph Hochhäusler (DE/FR, Heimatfilm)

THE STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL AND MISS OSBOURNE by Walérian Borowczyk (FR/DE, Multimedia Gesellschaft für Audiovisuelle Information)

TOMORROW IS ALWAYS TOO LONG by Phil Collins (GB/DE, Shady Lane Productions Berlin)