EXHILARATING’’

MUNICH INT’L FILM FESTIVAL
Summer Treat for
German Film Lovers
Festival offers international fare plus
top local cinema and best of television
By ED MEZA
The Munich Film Festival kicks off June 23 with some
180 feature films, documentaries and TV movies,
including Maren Ade’s Cannes competition title
“Toni Erdmann,” which opens this year’s event. Germany’s
second-biggest film fest offers an ideal summer platform
for world cinema, cutting-edge German films, and new discoveries
while also showcasing young talents. “We have a
fantastic line-up with well-known directors, but also discoveries
from countries like Vanuatu or Nepal, which are
in our program for the first time,” says festival director
Diana Iljine. Matt Ross’ “Captain Fantastic” closes the event.
SCREENINGS
The Spotlight sidebar is
known for presenting lavish
productions, big-name filmmakers,
and major stars.
This year is no different.
The lineup includes: Paul
Schrader’s “Dog Eat Dog,”
starring Nicolas Cage and
Willem Dafoe; Jason Batemen’s
“The Family Fang,”
with Nicole Kidman and
Christopher Walken; Werner
Herzog’s documentary
“Lo and Behold, Reveries of
the Connected World”; and
Andy Goddard’s “A Kind of
Murder,” starring Patrick
Wilson, Jessica Biel, and
Haley Bennett.
It’s a particularly good
year for German cinema,
Iljine says. “The New German
Cinema section shows
the most innovative and
original world premieres
from Germany.” Highlights
include films by Aron Lehman,
Klaus Lemke, Dani
Levy, Sven Taddicken, a special
selection of never-before-seen
short films by
“Der Nachtmahr” director
Akiz.
This year’s Independents
lineup offers a strong
selection of works from
U.S. filmmakers, including
Brady Corbet’s critically
acclaimed “The Childhood
of a Leader”; Chad Hartigan’s
“Morris From America,”
about a 13-year-old
African-American boy living
in Heidelberg and trying
to fit in; Kerem Sanga’s
teen romance “First Girl I
Loved”; and Maggie Greenwald’s
World War II-set love
story “Sophie and the Rising
Sun.”
Munich’s Kinderfilmfest
sidebar unspools 10
feature films, six shorts
and a special screening
of a 360-degree film: “The
Secrets of Gravity — In the
Footsteps of Albert Einstein.”
Dominik Wessely’s
“Nelly’s Adventure,” about a
13-year-old girl who is kidnapped
in Romania but res-
Overview
The Media Program
has proven essential to
continental filmmakers
1983
Year established
80k
Tickets sold
2.5k
Attendance by industry
professionals
Tipsheet
What: Munich Film Festival
When: June 23-July 2
Where: Munich, Germany
web: filmfest-muenchen.de
cued by two friendly siblings,
opens the section.
Other films include Rafig
Aliyev and Cavid Tevekkul’s
Azerbaijani title “The Lesson,”
about an overweight
boy who can’t play football
but who writes beautiful
poetry, and Mamoru
Hosoda’s Japanese animated
pic “The Boy and the
Beast.” In addition, German
director Andreas Dresen,
who is remaking German
children’s classic “Timm
Thaler,” will host a filmmaking
workshop for kids.
LOCATION
Munich is one of Germany’s
main film hubs. It
is home to HFF Munich,
one of the country’s premier
film schools, media
heavyweight Bavaria Film
and its vast studio complex,
camera and production
equipment giant Arri,
and countless production,
post-production, and vfx
companies, not to mention
regional funder FFF Bayern,
which has an annual budget
of €31 million [$36 million]
and a special incentive
for international co-productions.
Canadian writer-director
Mark Palansky’s “The
Jester,” a thriller based on
“Hop-Frog” by Edgar Allan
Poe and starring Peter
Cannes Transfer in Spotlight
Paul Schrader’s “Dog Eat Dog,”
starring Nicolas Cage, screens in
Munich’s sidebar devoted to
big-name filmmakers.
Dinklage, is being backed by
FFF Bayern to the tune of
$1.7 million.
About a third of Germany’s
film industry is
based in Munich, making
the fest an ideal meet and
greet for local and international
filmmakers and
industry insiders. The European
Commission’s Creative
Europe Desk is organizing
a panel on comedy in
film, while Arri is hosting a
workshop on its latest gear.
NEW GERMAN TV MOVIES
Munich is a major TV production
hub, so it’s no surprise
that the fest offers a
showcase of upcoming German
TV movies, many of
them from public broadcaster
ARD and its regional
affiliates. This year’s 20
TV pics range from tales
of political scandal to psychotherapy
and sportsshoe
empires. “Rivals Forever
— The Sneaker Battle”
tells the story of brothers
Adolf and Rudolf Dassler,
the feuding founders of
Adidas and Puma. In “The
Fourth Estate,” a journalist
[Benno Fürmann] exposes a
government scandal, while
“Dead Man Working” offers
a scathing look at the banking
industry.
CINEMERIT AWARD
The fest is paying tribute
to actress Ellen Burstyn
this year with its Cine-
Merit Award. In addition
to the premiere of Todd
Solondz’s “Wiener-Dog,” in
which she stars, Munich is
screening a selection of her
works, including “The Last
Picture Show,” “The Exorcist
— Director’s Cut,” and
“Alice Doesn’t Live Here
Anymore.”
Munich is honoring
Kurdish filmmaker Bahman
Ghobadi and German
helmer Christian Petzold.
As part of the Retrospective,
the fest will screen all
of Ghobadi’s works, including
his latest films, “A Flag
Without a Country,” which
examines the current plight
of the Kurdish people, and
“Life on the Border,” a documentary
directed by refugee
children and that the
filmmaker produced. The
event will also present all
of Petzold’s works as well,
including his recent festival
circuit hits “Barbara” and
“Phoenix.”
JUNE 14, 2016 VARIETY.COM
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