Braunschweig International Film Festival - News

Lower Saxony's film festivals protest against planed cuts

Fri, 11 May 2012 15:59:00 +0200

The network of Lower Saxony's film festivals protests against the plans by the government to stop the film and and audiovisual media industry's funding based on EFRE structural support by the EU. This would reduce festival funding by more than 25% (annually 200.000 Euro). The support is expected to be ceased by 2014. In some cases this loss threatens the economic substance of festivals, the network announced in a joined declaration. Members of the festival network are the international film festivals of Braunschweig, Emden, Oldenburg and Hannover („up-and-coming“), the European Media Art Festival and the Independent Filmfest in Osnabrück, the „Sehpferdchen“-Festival in Hannover and the European Film Festival in Göttingen. „The loss of the EFRE-support hits some film festivals of nation-wide importance and international reputation“, says Volker Kufahl, artistic director of Braunschweig International Film Festival and spokesman of the festival network. „We request the government to provide at least means of compensation.“ In its declaration the network points out that Lower Saxony's festival funding has remained on the same level for eight years, and in some cases had even been reduced. Whereras at the same time, costs for organisation, i.e. cinema rental fees or the costs for technical equipment due to digital film formats, have risen massively. „Against the backdrop of the festival's very dynamic development and given their extraordinary audience success, and their economic and cultural relevance it is not acceptable, that the government's support continuosly declines“, says Kufahl. „We therefore demand the government to adjust the festival funding.“ According to the network, the development contradicts the declared goal of nordmedia, which is to safeguard and strenghten the festivals. In their declaration, the festivals furthermore ask to start a dialogue on a conceptual basis on the festival's funding.

German Film Awards for STOPPED ON TRACK, COMBAT GIRLS and actress Dagmar Manzel

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:21:00 +0200

Among the big winners of Friday's German Film Awards were two productions that were also part of the programme of Braunschweig's 25th International Film Festival. STOPPED ON TRACK by Andreas Dresen was screened in the "New German Film" programme. COMBAT GIRLS by David Wnendt took part in two competitions, the French-German Youth Award KINEMA and the competition for European debut and second feature film, "The Heinrich". Last Friday at the Friedrichstadtpalast in Berlin, STOP ON TRACK won the Golden Lola for "Best Film". Andreas Dresen was voted "Best Director, Milan Peschel "Best Main Actor" and Otto Mellies "Best Supporting Actor".

COMBAT GIRLS, David Wnendt's first feature film, also received several awards. It was awarded the Bronze Lola as "Best Film", "Best Script" (David Wnendt) and Alina Levshin was selected as "Best Main Actress". And anothe guest of last year's filmfest was lucky to receive a prize: actress Dagmar Manzel, who in Braunschweig had presented the Holocaust drama REMEMBRANCE, was elected "Best Supporting Actress" for her role in CRACKS IN THE SHELL (original title: DIE UNSICHTBARE).

Braunschweig Int'l Film Festival recommends: the EFA Master Class 2012 - THE SOUND OF THE IMAGE

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:02:00 +0100

As a festival dedicated to film music Braunschweig International Film Festival takes great pleasure in announcing a very special offer by our long-standing partner, the European Film Academy (EFA). From 2 to 8 July 2012, the EFA Master Class 2012 THE SOUND OF THE IMAGE takes place in Berlin and Potsdam (Germany).

This year's EFA Master Class – supported by the MEDIA Programme of the European Union which also supports Braunschweig's Film Festival and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg - will be held by French sound re-recording mixer Bruno Tarrière and sound editor Selim Azzazi and is open for 18 European creative film professionals who work on sound – this applies particularly to sound editors, sound re-recording mixers, sound designers, directors, composers and picture editors.

Deadline for applications is 25 May 2012. For further information, please check the following link: http://www.europeanfilmacademy.org/2012/02/10/mc2012/ Braunschweig International Film Festival and the EFA have been cooperating for over ten years. Every Year the festival presents the annual EFA short film programme "Short Matters!", showcasing the best European short films.

Braunschweig International Film Festival takes „Lollipop Monster“ and „Marseille“ to Rouen

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 14:18:00 +0100

Braunschweig International Film Festival (BIFF) presents two Nordmedia-funded productions at the festival „Transeuropéennes 2012“ in Rouen

On March 22 and 23, Volker Kufahl, head of BIFF, and Florence Houdin, member of the filmfest association, will present two films funded by Lower Saxony's film commission nordmedia at the festival "Transeuropéennes 2012" in Rouen. As part of the programme "Foto Kino" of Pôle Image, the film commission of Haute-Normandie, BIFF presents the two current productions "Lollipop Monster" (2010) by Ziska Riemann and "The last Battlefield" (2010) by Wolf Bolte and Nico Vogelsang. The cultural festival "Transeuropéennes 2012" takes place from March 11 to 26, 2012. More than 30.000 visitors are expected at the 180 events with around 700 artists and performers.

"Lollipop Monster", decorated with two film awards, is a pitch-black teenager drama and will be presented by director Ziska Riemann. It is the story of Ariane and Oona, two girls, who conspire against the rest of the world - a wild mixture of trash and serious youth drama, of exaggerated pop culture, comic strips, sex and music. Artists Ziska Riemann, born 1973, works as a film script writer and comic strip author, illustrator and singer in Berlin. She made herself known by her collaboration with comic legend Seyfried. "Lollipop Monster" is her first feature film as director. Thanks to the support of nordmedia, the film can be screened with French subtitles.

Produced in Hannover and Emden, the short film "The last Battlefield" will be accompanied by producer Thomas Israel (Tonic Trix, Hannover). The short, spectacular transformation of a battle field painting has been supported by the University of Applied Science and the Arts Hannover.

In addition, in the framework of the French-German school project KINEMA, Anna Schanelec's film "Marseille" from the year 2004 will also be presented. French-German actress Marie-Lou Sallem, born in Göttingen, will the discuss the story of a young photographer from Berlin with French pupils who have prepared the film in their German class.

With the visit to Rouen the film cultural exchange between the partner regions Haute-Normandie and Lower Saxony continues in its eleventh year. In 2001 Braunschweig International Film Festival and the film commission of Haute-Normady, Pôle Image, had startet the exchange. In 2006, the school project KINEMA joined the partners. From this cooperation the French-German Youth Prize Kinema was developed, which is awarded every year at the Filmfest. In 2011, the 10-year anniversary of the exchange was celebrated at the 25th BIFF.

Links:
http://www.kinema.fr/
http://www.poleimagehn.com/
http://www.la-crea.fr/transeuropeennes-de-la-crea.html
http://www.ziska.tv

Find the complete FOTO-KINO here.

"Europa" winner John Hurt to receive BAFTA honour

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:41:00 +0100

British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) will honour veteran actor John Hurt with the Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award at the British Academy Film Awards ceremony on February 12.

In a career spanning six decades Hurt has starred in a variety of film roles including "Midnight Express", for which he won the BAFTA and Golden Globe awards for Best Supporting Actor, The Elephant Man for which he won the Best Actor BAFTA, and recently in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" [trailer] and the Harry Potter films.

For his "outstanding performances and contribution to European film culture" John Hurt received the "Europa", the main prize of Braunschweig International Film Festival in 2009.

Finally - Cheyenne received KINEMA Award

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:29:00 +0100

KINEMA-Award winner Cheyenne Carron unfortunately couldn’t make it to the award ceremony to receive the statuette for her movie NE NOUS SOUMETS PAS À LA TENTATION. So we shipped it to her. She seems to like it and wrote today: Merci mille fois pour cette récompense!
Je vous embrasse,
Cheyenne Carron “De rien!”, we say.

Half-Way!

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:21:00 +0100

Half of the festival has already passed! It’s time to take stock for the 25^th International filmfest that opened last Tuesday in a sold out C1 Cinema. 600 spectators watched HABEMUS PAPAM by Nanni Moretti, which had been nominated on ly the day before for the European Movie Awards for “Best European Actor 2011” (Michel Piccoli) and “Best Production Design” (Paola Bizzari).

Especially popular with the audience this year is the competition for our audience award HEINRICH. Johannes Repka, composer of COMBAT GIRLS, Nigel O’Neill, director of BEHOLD THE LAMB and Mikaël Buch, director of LET MY PEOPLE GO! were present for Q&As for the interested audience.

The people of Braunschweig are enthusiastic about film history as well: the movies of the Schneider film collection are attracting lots of visitors to the cinema halls of Universum cinema. The presentation of the film collection with a lecture by Michael Schurig from the German Film Institute in Wiesbaden and the detailed and entertaining memories of Christian Schneider was very well received.

By taking a look at the audience figures of the Isabelle Huppert retrospective, one can tell that the audience is very much looking forward for this year’s winner of the EUROPA. Some of the screenings were sold out quickly.

Already on the first day, we were pleased to welcome famous guests: singer and songwriter Hannes Wader was visiting Universum Cinema for a Q&A after the screenin of the documentary WADER/WECKER – VATER LAND by director Rudi Gaul. In the cinema bistro he signed our guest wall right beside the signatures of Hanna Schygulla and Stellan Skarsgard. Director Elke Hauck presented her movie THE PRIZE in the Universum Cinema, too and enjoyed the nice festival atmosphere.

Our guests in the section ‘Music and Film’ are coming from New York and Bristol. The music duos FALL ON YOUR SWORD and THE INSECTS are answering questions about their work as film composers throughout the festival week – sometimes along with director Richard Kwietniowski.

Flying in from Hong Kong were producer Jacqueline Liu and the two directors Derek Kwok and Clement Cheng, who had the longest journey to Braunschweig. On Thursday night they celebrated together with the filmfest board, the juries of the KINEMA and LEO award, all our other guests - directors, film composers, festival makers from all parts of Germany – and our friends from France the 10^th anniversary of the partnership program with the region of Haute Normandie. Everyone danced and partied until late at night. So we are already looking forward to the follow-up at the ultimate, official filmfest party on Saturday at the Schweinebärmannbar – or as our foreign guest say: ‘Pig-bear-man-bar’!

„Heinrich“ nominees announced

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 22:43:00 +0200

The nominees for the filmfest's audience competition "The Heinrich" are fixed. Ten films from eight countries will compete for the prize for European debut and second films with a purse of 10.000 Euro.
The prize money, endowed by the filmfest's main sponsor Volkswagen Financial Services, is equally sharded between the director and German distributor. The winner will be announced at the award ceremony on Sunday, November 13th at the State Theatres Big Hall. The "Heinrich" is being award in the 13th year.
Four of the ten participating films are German premieres.

„Patient 17“ by Tuyet Le (UK 2011, 77 Min.) with Hannah Waterman and Michael Budd. (Sales: Tuyet Le). German premiere!
„Let my people go!“ by Mikael Buch (F 2011, 86 Min.) with Carmen Maura und Amira Casar. (Sales: Les Films du Losange). German premiere!
„What are bears for?” by Tom Fernandez (Spain 2011, 100 Min.) with Geraldine Chaplin and Emma Suárez (Sales: Imagina). German premiere!
„Behold the Lamb“ by John Mcllduff (UK 2011, 83 Min.) with Sandra Ni Bhroin (Sales: MediaLuna). German premiere!
„17 Filles“ by Delphine und Murial Coulin (F 2011, 85 Min.) with Louise Grinberg and Juliette Darche (Distribution: Arsenal).
„Kriegerin“ by David Wnendt (D 2011, 100 Min.) with Alina Levshin (Distribution: Ascot Elite).
„Undercurrent“ by Árni Ólafur Ásgeirsson (ISL 2010, 95 Min.) with Ingvar Eggert Sigurdsson and Nina Dögg Filipusdóttir (Distribution: Islandic Film Centre).
„My Name is Ki“ by Leszek Dawid (PL 2011, 93 Min.) with Roma Gasiorowska and Adam Woronowicz (Sales: Skorpion Arte).
„Morgen“ by Marian Crisan (ROM/H/F 2010, 100 Min.) with András Hathazi and Yilmaz Yalcin (Sales: Les Films du Losange).
„Code Blue“ by Urszula Antoniak (NL/DK 2011 , 78 Min.) with Bien de Moor and Lars Eidinger (Sales: Bavaria).

A Wall is a Screen

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 13:51:00 +0200

The Hamburg group of artists A WALL IS A SCREEN illuminates the eventful history of the Braunschweig cinema. In an unconventional tour they use short films, and go tracking for cinemas that have been closed long ago, and former sites of the filmfest, taking the audience with them.

A Wall is a Screen: Braunschweig

Friday, October 28th 2011

Meeting point: 19.00, Kohlmarkt

Participation is free of charge.

The tour last approximately 1,5 to 2 hours and will take place even when it rains.

www.awallisascreen.com

"The Europa" goes to... Isabelle Huppert!

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 21:11:00 +0200

The 25th International Film Festival Braunschweig honours French Actress Isabelle Huppert with its main prize, the European Actors Award „The Europa“. Huppert receives the award for her outstanding artistic performances and contribution to European film culture. Isabelle Huppert will be handed over the statue „The Europa“ during the award ceremony on November 13 in Braunschweig‘s State Theatre. The prize is sponsored by the festival’s main sponsor Volkswagen Financial Services AG. „Isabelle Huppert is an icon of contemporary auteur cinema“, says festival director Volker Kufahl, „We are proud and happy to welcome this exceptional actress, who gives every role her distinctive expression.“Huppert is considered as one of the greatest actresses of world cinema. To this day she has played in more than 80 films, 16 of which were seleceted for the official competition in Cannes – a record. She is the only Frenchwoman who has won the Golden Palm of Cannes twice: 1978 for „Violette Nozière“ directed by Claude Chabrol, who she worked with in seven films, and 2001 for „The Pianist” by Michael Haneke, for which she also received the European Film Award. The list of directors she collaborated with resembles a who-is-who of European arthouse cinema: André Techiné, Jean-Luc Godard, Andrzej Wajda, Marco Ferreri, the Taviani brothers and many more. The Paris-born actress became famous for her role in in Claude Gorettas „The Lacemaker“which earned her a César and a BAFTA Award. Braunschweig festival will show Goretta’s drama as part of a retrospective with „The Pianist “ (director: Michael Haneke, A/F/D 2001), „8 Women“ (François Ozon, F 2002), „Comedy of Power“ (Claude Chabrol, F/D 2006), „White material“ (Claire Denis, F/Kamerun 2009), „Villa Amalia“ (Benoît Jacquot, F/CH 2009) und „Copacabana“ (F 2010) by Marc Fitoussi, where she acts together with her daughter Lolita Chammah. Since 2007 Braunschweig International Film Festival awards the European Actors Award „The Europa“. Former prize winners are Bruno Ganz, Stellan Skarsgård, Hanna Schygulla and John Hurt. With last two Isabelle Huppert has already worked together: In Marco Ferreri’s „Storia di Piera“ she is Hanna Schygulla’s daughter (first „Europa“ winner 2007), and in Michael Ciminos late western „Heaven`s Gate“ she plays a business savvy prostitute next to John Hurt (“Europa winner 2009).