German Films Service + Marketing, the national advisory center for the promotion of German films worldwide, has launched a campaign to promote a new wave of German cinema achievements to international audiences and to showcase exceptional German talent worldwide. The initiative - entitled FACE TO FACE WITH GERMAN FILMS - spotlights six of the most influential German actresses currently working in the industry, who represent just some of the many dynamic ‘faces’ of German filmmaking today. During the BFI London Film Festival the initiative celebrated its launch.    

Photos from London on Facebook and Instagram.

Promoting the campaign with a series of marketing and PR measures across the year are the following actresses:

• Julia Jentsch – who starred in 24 WEEKS in Competition at this year’s Berlinale and ALL OF A SUDDEN programmed in Berlin and London and will be seen in THE HAVE-NOTS in competition in Tallinn.
• Lilith Stangenberg – star of WILD - which world premiered at Sundance in competition earlier this year.
• Liv Lisa Fries – who will star in Tom Tykwer’s upcoming series, BABYLON BERLIN.
• Paula Beer – who won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress in Venice for the lead in François Ozon’s FRANTZ.
• Sandra Hüller – lead actress in TONI ERDMANN - Germany’s official submission for the 89th Oscar® for Best Foreign Language Film, which world premiered in Cannes' competition in 2016, with a North American premiere in Telluride and appearences at TIFF and London amongst others.
• Saskia Rosendahl – who will star in Oscar®-winner Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s upcoming feature WORK WITHOUT AUTHOR.

This eclectic group of actresses represent some of Germany’s most established, internationally acclaimed projects as well as up-and-coming productions that will reinforce German cinema’s global appeal. 2016 has been a stand-out year for local film so far, with an impressive number of important international film festivals giving German productions a prominent platform and German cinema finding an international audience at the box office, too.

"German cinema is on the rise and is exciting, modern, bold, dramatic, funny, unexpected and very multifaceted;" says Peter Herrmann, Chairman of the Board for German Films Service + Marketing. "Audiences, press and industry alike celebrated Maren Ade’s TONI ERDMANN in Competition at Cannes and other international festivals. Already over 330,000 French cinema-goers were enchanted by its wit. WILD, by Nicolette Krebitz, with a world premiere in Competition in Sundance, and 24 WEEKS by Anne Zora Berrached in the Berlinale Competition showed just how daring and spirited young German cinema can be. Not to forget the international festival euphoria around VICTORIA by Sebastian Schipper or the box office successes of PHOENIX by Christian Petzold – at US $3 million the most successful arthouse release in the United States in 2015 – and LABYRINTH OF LIES by Giulio Ricciarelli (TIFF 2014) with over 340,000 admissions in France last year. The future looks very promising with three Student Oscar® wins in a row for German filmmakers, a lot of ambitious, high-quality German TV series being produced, like BABYLON BERLIN by Tom Tykwer and exciting new features from the likes of Oscar®-winner Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck coming up."   

Sandra Hüller, Julia Jentsch, Liv Lisa Fries and Paula Beer presented the campaign in London to the international press and industry. There was coverage in The Hollywood Reporterand Huffington Post amongst others.

The single and group images of the six actresses, which are used for international press coverage and ads, were shot by leading German photographer Mathias Bothor with German designers including  Hien Le, Ivy & Oak, Michael Sontag, Perret Schaad, Philomena Zanetti, Tim Labenda and Wild providing the styling.