Quarterly 4 · 2006 - German Cinema

Hands on HD 2006 (photo courtesy of Nordmedia)
NORDMEDIA SHOWS THE WAY INTO THE
DIGITAL FILM WORLD
With over 100 participants from the film and television industry, 40
German and European experts and €40 million worth of technical
equipment, the Hands on HD 2006 Workshop & Network, organized
by Nordmedia in cooperation with Band Pro Munich, was a
Europe-wide unique industry event. For seven days, presentations,
seminars and practical exercises in the fields of cinematography, postproduction
as well as direction and film production were on the program
for the event’s participants. Through the support of some 40
renowned companies, 39 HD cameras and 15 editing boards were
also made available. Digital projections of feature and documentary
films were also shown on the big screen. A highlight of the event was
the use of a HD helicopter and a large HD transmission vehicle,
making High Definition (HD/HDTV) a new production and broadcasting
standard for the German film and television industries.
“ROLL STREAM!“: NEW EVENT SERIES
FOR DIGITAL FILM
In cooperation with MEDIA Desk Germany, the FilmFoerderung
Hamburg is currently preparing a new series of workshops on the
topic of digital film. The series, with the title “ROLL STREAM!” is geared
toward the film industry and will cover different aspects of this
complex subject. During first event, entitled “User Instead of Viewer?
The Future of Film Between Cinema, TV, Internet and Mobile”, which
took place within the framework of the Filmfest Hamburg, strategy
consultant Dr. Ewald Lessing presented an overview of current media
developments. Other topics in the series include a comparison of
various recording formats, lectures on digital aesthetics, different
aspects of post-production and digital distribution, as well as the legal
aspects of utilization levels and reports on selected productions.
Further information on dates, event locations and details on the
ROLL STREAM! workshops are available at www.ffhh.de.
“FOUR MINUTES“
IN NEW YORK & LOS ANGELES
Within the framework of the exclusive industry screenings German
Premieres for American buyers in August, German Films presented
Four Minutes (Vier Minuten) by Chris Kraus, which had its world premiere
at the Shanghai International Film Festival and won the festival’s
Jin Jue Cup for Best Film. Director Chris Kraus, leading actress Hannah
Herzsprung and sales agent Dirk Schuerhoff (Beta Cinema) were on
hand to present this outstanding drama as a pre-Toronto event for
American buyers in New York’s Tribeca Cinemas and in the screening
rooms of the Director’s Guild of America in L.A.
Four Minutes is the opening film of the German series
KINO!2006:New Films from Germany at the Museum of
Modern Art (26 October – 3 November), organized by German Films
with the support of the Goethe-Institut New York and the German
Consulate General New York. Four Minutes will also be screened at
the AFI Fest in Los Angeles in November.
YOUNG & THRIFTY IN THE EVENING
Audiences in repertory theaters are getting younger. That is the conclusion
found in the current FFA (German Federal Film
Board) study about repertory cinemas recently presented at the 6th
Filmkunstmesse in Leipzig: Programmkinos und ihr Publikum 2005.
According to the report, 23.4% of repertory theater admissions were
purchased by cinemagoers in the age group 20-29-years-old. In the
previous year, 30-39-year-olds were the strongest group. But the programs
on offer also pulled in older crowds: in 2005 almost double the
amount (of the total average) of over-60s watched their films in
repertory cinemas. The average arthouse fan was found to be around
37 years of age, have less disposable income available for cinema visits
and prefers to go to the cinema between 8 – 10 p.m. The statistics for
the arthouse cinemas themselves remained unchanged: as in 2004,
almost 12% of all screens in Germany are in arthouse theaters, with
more than a quarter of which being in metropolitan cities. In relation
to the population of the individual states, Berlin proved to have the
highest density of arthouse theaters in 2005. The study can be downloaded
from www.ffa.de.
german films quarterly news
4 · 2006 19
Chris Kraus, Oliver Mahrdt (German Films), Hannah
Herzsprung, Dirk Schuerhoff (photo © Karin Kohlberg)