Editor

The 12th Festival of German Films in London (27.11.-3.12.2009) posted record attendance this year. Not only Florian Gallenberger's JOHN RABE, but many other sold-out screenings show that German cinema has a faithful audience in London.

The festival opened with Detlev Buck's new film SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT which was presented to audience in person by the director and lead actor David Kross. Also well attended: EVERYONE ELSE (ALLE ANDEREN, Maren Ade), ANONYMA – A WOMAN IN BERLIN (ANONYMA – EINE FRAU IN BERLIN, Max Faerberboeck), BERLIN ´36 (Kaspar Heidelbach), GERMANY 09 (div.), EFFI BRIEST (Hermine Huntgeburth), PEACEFUL TIMES (FRIEDLICHE ZEITEN, Neele Leana Vollmar), HILDE (Kai Wessel), LULU & JIMI (Oskar Roehler), LONG SHADOWS (SCHATTENWELT, Connie Walther), STORM (STURM, Hans-Christian Schmid) and the family film THE CROCODILES (VORSTADTKROKODILE) by Christian Ditter.

The documentary program with ALIAS (Jens Junker), GERMAN SOULS - LIFE AFTER THE COLONIA DIGNIDAD (DEUTSCHE SEELEN – LEBEN NACH DER COLONIA DIGNIDAD, Martin Farkas, Matthias Zuber), GERDA'S SILENCE - SURVIVING THE ANGEL OF DEATH (GERDAS SCHWEIGEN, Britta Wauer), BASTION OF SIN (HOCHBURG DER SUENDEN, Thomas Lauterbach) and THE MIRACLE OF LEIPZIG (DAS WUNDER VON LEIPZIG, Sebastian Dehnhardt, Matthias Schmidt) also met with great interest.

Apart from the short film program of NEXT GENERATION 2009, German Films showed the shorts GISELA (Katja Baumann), THE GREEN SHEEP (DAS GRUENE SCHAF, Carsten Strauch), THE LAST WHEEL (DAS LETZTE RAD, Olaf Held), MAMA L’CHAIM! (Elkan Spiller) and MY FIRST WEDDING (MEINE ERSTE HOCHZEIT, Ralf Kukula).

The Goethe-Institut in London honoured Romy Schneider with a selection of films, including SISSI (Ernst Marischka) and GIRLS IN UNIFORM (MAEDCHEN IN UNIFORM, Géza von Radványi).

The directors Detlev Buck, Martin Farkas, Florian Gallenberger, Kaspar Heidelbach, Hermine Huntgeburth, Jens Junker, Matthias Schmidt, Connie Walther and Matthias Zuber, producers Benjamin Herrmann (JOHN RABE), Britta Knoeller (STORM) and Tobias Walker (ALIAS), actors David Kross and Dan Stevens (HILDE), editor Ewa Lind (ANONYMA – A WOMAN IN BERLIN) and the short filmmakers Katja Baumann (GISELA) and Lennart Ruff (NO SPECIAL INCIDENTS/KEINE BESONDEREN VORKOMMNISSE) presented their films at the festival in person.

A large part of the London program is being shown in the Irish Film Institute in Dublin from 3. - 13.12.2009.

The festival's partners were the German Embassy in London, the Goethe Institut London, Lufthansa, Pritchard Englefield Solicitors and Kodak.