The Festival of German Films will held for the 13th time in Paris from 15th to 21st October, 2008. A total of 15 new feature films, two documentaries, six shorts and the NEXT GENERATION 2008 short film programme will be presented in the Cinéma L’Arlequin.

The festival will be opened by Christian Petzold's JERICHOW which was met with an enthusiastic response at the international festival in Venice. The director will introduce his film to the audience in person. After the screening, a cocktail will be held for invited guests in the cinema foyer.

In the main programme, the following new German films can be seen along with the opening film: BERLIN CALLING (Hannes Stoehr), IN BETWEEN DAYS (DIE BESUCHERIN, Lola Randl), THE INVENTION OF THE CURRIED SAUSAGE (DIE ENTDECKUNG DER CURRYWURST, Ulla Wagner), PEACEFUL TIMES (FRIEDLICHE ZEITEN, Neele Leana Vollmar), THE HEART IS A DARK FOREST (DAS HERZ IST EIN DUNKLER WALD, Nicolette Krebitz), SELBSTGESPRAECHE (André Erkau), SEVEN DAYS SUNDAY (SIEBEN TAGE SONNTAG, Niels Laupert), the documentary NOBODY’S PERFECT (Niko von Glasow) as well as the closing film A YEAR AGO IN WINTER (IM WINTER EIN JAHR) by Caroline Link.

The section entitled „Roulez Jeunesse!" will be showing AND ALONG COME TOURISTS (AM ENDE KOMMEN TOURISTEN, Robert Thalheim), CHIKO (Oezguer Yildirim), LEROY (Armin Voelckers), TO FARO (MEIN FREUND AUS FARO, Nana Neul) and, in cooperation with Filmstiftung NRW, FOR THE UNKNOWN DOG (FUER DEN UNBEKANNTEN HUND) by Benjamin and Dominik Reding and RUN FOR YOUR LIFE - FROM JUNKIE TO IRONMAN (LAUF UM DEIN LEBEN – VOM JUNKIE ZUM IRONMAN) by Adnan G. Koese.

In addition to German Films' short film reel NEXT GENERATION 2008, another six shorts will be shown: AMIN, IT'S MY TURN! (BENDE SIRA – ICH BIN DRAN), THE BED-WETTER (DER BETTNAESSER), GEORG GROWS (GEORG WAECHST), SUPER SMILE and WEISS.

The sidebar programmed by the Goethe Institut will present THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN (DIE EHE DER MARIA BRAUN), THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA VON KANT (DIE BITTEREN TRAENEN DER PETRA VON KANT) and THE AGE OF INNOCENCE as an homage to the German cinematographer Michael Ballhaus, and a "Night of German Cinema" featuring Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's HITLER - A FILM FROM GERMANY (HITLER – EIN FILM AUS DEUTSCHLAND).

In collaboration with the Berlinale and TV5MONDE, the award-winning film DRIFTER will be presented in the presence of the director Sebastian Heidinger.

The event's partners are: ARTE, Goethe Institut Paris, TV5MONDE, Office du Tourisme Allemagne, airberlin, Kodak, AG Kurzfilm, Le Monde, Objectif Cinéma, Positif, Paris-Berlin, A Nous Paris, le nouvel Obs, Vocable, fluctuanet.

Further information as well as the screening times can be found on the festival's website at: www.festivalcineallemand.com