Great success for German cinema at the 14th Festival of German Films in Paris (30th September – 6th October 09)!

The festival was opened by Andreas Dresen's WHISKY WITH VODKA (WHISKY MIT WODKA) which had celebrated its international premiere at the festival of Karlovy Vary where it was awarded the prize for Best Direction. The French audience was also much taken by the presentation from the lead actor Henry Huebchen and the producer Christoph Mueller who were there in person to answer questions from the audience.

Oskar Roehler (LULU & JIMI), Romuald Karmakar as a representative of the project GERMANY 09 (DEUTSCHLAND 09), Stefan Krohmer and producer Benjamin Benedict for DUTSCHKE, the director Susanne Schneider (THE DAY WILL COME/ES KOMMT DER TAG) and the lead actress Anne Consigny (JOHN RABE, Florian Gallenberger) introduced their films in person to the festival audience.

DORFPUNKS by Lars Jessen, HILDE by Kai Wessel, KAIFECK MURDER (HINTER KAIFECK) by Esther Gronenborn, the Prix de Dialogue-winner GITTI by Anna Deutsch, the film for young people LITTLE WHITE LIES (DIE PERLMUTTERFARBE) by Marcus H. Rosenmueller, and the program of short films NEXT GENERATION 2009 completed the program.

The festival was rounded off with a screening of STORM (STURM) in the presence of the director Hans-Christian Schmid and producer Britta Knoeller.

Six shorts were programmed in cooperation with AG Kurzfilm as supporting films: BREATHE (ATMEN, Lei Xue), FOR MATHILDE (FUER MATHILDE, Alla Churikova), HOCUS-POCUS (HOKUS-POKUS, Anna Samoylovich), DOG'S DEVOTION (SEEMANNSTREUE, Anna Kalus), WHEN WE ARE IN HEAVEN (UND WENN WIR DANN IM HIMMEL SIND, Daniela Risch) and IN BETWEEN (ZWISCHENZEIT, Mischa Leinkauf, Matthias Wermke).

The Goethe-Institut in Paris programmed the documentaries OFF WAYS (ELEKTROKOHLE) by Uli M. Schueppel and MATERIAL by Thomas Heise on the subject of „Le Mur en doc“. Heise also travelled to Paris to present his film in person. A further highlight was the six-hour screening of Ulrike Ottinger's SOUTHEAST PASSAGE (SUEDOSTPASSAGE).

The Audience Award went to JOHN RABE by Florian Gallenberger.

For Anne Tallineau, the new foreign representative of German Films for France, the Festival of German Films was an ideal opportunity for intensifying her contacts with the film industry in both countries.