The 2024 Film Programme:
The Full Power of Cinema
10. September 2024
FILMFEST HAMBURG brings the most important and successful productions of this year’s film season to Hamburg for the first time, even before their official German cinema release, including the Palme d’Or winner Anora (Director: Sean Baker) and the film The Room Next Door by Pedro Almodóvar, which was awarded the Golden Lion this past weekend. The 124 films from 55 countries explore the state of the world, reflect on internal and external conflicts and envision future scenarios. Five feature films will celebrate their world premieres in Hamburg. Expected to attend are renowned directors and actors such as Jacques Audiard, Andrea Arnold, Pia Marais, Joshua Oppenheimer, Mohammad Rasoulof, Michel Hazanavicius, Thomas Vinterberg, Magnus von Horn, Diane Kruger, Helena Zengel, Maren Eggert, Edgar Selge, Luna Wedler and Christoph Maria Herbst. For ten days, the Hamburg audience, film enthusiasts, and cinema fans from near and far can immerse themselves in other worlds and experience the carefully curated festival films in 14 participating cinemas – even free of charge on October 3rd. Festival meeting points during the event include the MOIN FILMFEST CAFÉ at CinemaxX Dammtor and the FILMFEST BAR/Kasematte20 at Alsterglacis 20.
FILMFEST HAMBURG will open on September 26 with the French debut film Holy Cow, directed by Louise Courvoisier, and close on October 5 with The Room Next Door, the first English-language film by Pedro Almódovar. This year, the Douglas Sirk Award will honor two directors: Jacques Audiard and Andrea Arnold. Both will receive the festival’s honorary award in person during the German premieres of their films Emilia Pérez (Sept 28) and Bird (Oct 2).
Debut Support & Long-term Guidance
FILMFEST HAMBURG has a unique talent for identifying promising filmmakers and supporting them in the long run. Directors such as Chloé Zhao, Sean Baker, Xavier Dolan, Yorgos Lanthimos, Mohammad Rasoulof, Magnus von Horn, Maura Delpero, and Justine Triet showcased their first or second feature films at the festival and often return with their latest works. This year, Magnus von Horn presents The Girl with the Needle, Sean Baker brings Anora, Maura Delpero offers Vermiligio (Silver Lion winner in Venice), and Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Germany’s submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, will premiere. Alongside the opening film, Holy Cow, there will be 26 other debut films, including Diciannove by Giovanni Tortorici and Good One by India Donaldson, which premiered at both Venice and Sundance.
Visual & Narrative Innovations, Animated Films, Female Perspectives & Genre Enthusiasm
This year’s selection showcases innovative visual and narrative styles, such as Luis Ortega’s absurd tragicomedy Kill the Jockey, Ariane Labed’s September Says, a film about a toxic relationship between two sisters, and Matthew Rankin’s Universal Language, a comedy about language conflicts in Canada with a declaration of love to Iranian culture. The festival aims to bring animation to adult audiences with Dreamworks’ The Wild Robot and Oscar-winner Michel Hazanavicius’ emotional The Most Precious of Cargoes.
FILMFEST HAMBURG also continues to give female voices a platform, showcasing 43 films from (co-)directors. This number reflects both progress and the challenges faced globally. Many of the selected films come from countries where there is hardly any tradition of female directors and where the corresponding talents are not promoted. Not only the Douglas Sirk Award winner Andrea Arnold and the “Contemporary Cinema in Focus” participant Pia Marais show the diversity and depth of female perspectives in their films. Another highlight is the Georgian film April by Déa Kulumbegashvili. The director, who was awarded the Special Jury Prize in Venice, tells a powerful drama about self-determined femininity. Déa Kulumbegashvili will be honored with the Albert Wiederspiel Award in Hamburg on October 2. The prize money of 10,000 euros is provided by the Hapag-Lloyd Foundation. The selected films by female directors also demonstrate a creative approach to the genre. Emma Benestan (Animale), Carly May Borgstrom (Spirit in the Blood), Fleur Fortuné (The Assesment) and Alice Lowe (Timestalker), among others, explore and redefine traditional genre boundaries in their current works. This important topic will also be discussed at INDUSTRY DAYS. WIFT Germany invites you to the panel “Between Horror and Thriller: Female Perspectives in International Genre Film” on October 3 at 2 pm.
Contemporary Cinema & Politically Relevant Topics
Since 2019, FILMFEST HAMBURG has highlighted the works of two of the most exciting voices in global cinema under “Contemporary Cinema in Focus.” Marais’ latest work, Transamazonia, tells the gripping story of a plane crash survivor (Helena Zengel) in the Amazon rainforest. Oppenheimer’s The End is a sung post-apocalypse about life in a luxury bunker after the world ends. Both directors will engage in extensive conversations about their work, alongside screenings of two of their earlier films (Pia Marais: Layla Fourie, The Unpolished; Joshua Oppenheimer: The Look of Silence, The Act of Killing).
Thomas Vinterberg also deals with the harbingers of the apocalype in his series Families Like Ours, which is part of the film programme and continues the tradition of showing series by renowned cinema directors in the cinema programme. The six-part mini-series is about the evacuation of the Danish population due to the unstoppable rise in sea levels. In the documentary As the Tide Comes In, director Juan Palacios takes a step back and shows some Danish islanders whose homes are in danger of disappearing due to extreme weather and rising sea levels.
The themes of the eight films selected for the “Veto!” section and nominated for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation’s Political Film Award include abuse, systemic oppression and extremism. In his film Nothing in its Place, Turkish director Burak Çevik has re-enacted a historical episode from the history of the Grey Wolves, one of the largest right-wing extremist organizations in Europe. He shows a murderous evening in Ankara in 1979 in real time. Julian Brave NoiseCats and Emily Kassie’s documentary Sugarcane is a reappraisal of a cross-generational trauma and at the same time a tribute to the resilience of North American Native people and their way of life. The documentary Homegrown by Michael Premo shows the frightening inside view of the world of Trump supporters and their radicalization up to the storming of the Capitol. Trump is also the subject of one of the films in the “Transatlantic” section: Ali Abassi’s The Apprentice creates a kind of psychogram of the young Donald Trump. Another film from this year’s overall strong section is the new work by former Douglas Sirk Award winner David Cronenberg: The Shrouds, starring Diane Kruger, is an impressive late work that develops the filmmaker’s themes in a new direction. Body horror and sexuality are juxtaposed with themes of grief and coming to terms with death in a philosophical thriller.
Asian Cinema & Productions from Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking Countries
A total of eight films are on the programme of the newly renamed “Asiascope” section. With the name change, FILMFEST HAMBURG wants to emphasize the wide range of cinematic experiences and approaches in Asia. The selection not only includes Guan Hu’s Black Dog, which was awarded Best Film in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes, but also two very different Indian productions with strong women in the leading roles: Second Chance, the directorial debut of Subhadra Mahajan, deals with female solidarity and a profound inner transformation process in the Himalayan mountains, and Karan Kandhari’s feature-length debut Sister Midnight, a wild film about an arranged marriage in Mumbai and the rebellion against the patriarchal order that turns sinister. Director Yeo Siew Hua is the first filmmaker from Singapore to be invited to the Venice competition. His film Stranger Eyes is an exciting and wistful mystery about voyeurism, voluntary and involuntary surveillance, omnipresent cameras and media self-staging. This year, Pooja, Sir by director Deepak Rauniyar comes from Nepal, a country that is rarely represented at international festivals. In this film, Rauniyar develops his own experiences of the unequal treatment of the Indian minority in conflict with the majority society in Nepal and the resulting social unrest into a gripping crime film.
In addition to the aforementioned visually stunning tragicomedy Kill the Jockey, the “Vitrina” section includes Baby, a queer coming-of-age story from São Paulo directed by Marcelo Caetano. Miguel Gomes’ Grand Tour, which won the prize for best director in Cannes, is a melancholy journey through times, territories and stories. In his absurd comedy The Other Way Round, director Jonás Trueba questions social norms and celebrates the “beauty of separation”. The hybrid documentary Savanna and the Mountain (Director: Paulo Carneiro) focuses on the struggle of citizens in a village in northern Portugal against the construction of Europe’s largest open-cast lithium mine.
German Cinema & Hamburg Productions
The “Great Freedom” section provides a platform for new directorial voices: Oliver Moser from the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb) and Chiara Fleischhacker from the Film Academy Ludwigsburg are showing their respective graduation films Die Farbe der Luft and Vena as world premieres. Roxana Samadi’s documentary Freiheit im Herzen – Lasst es uns eilig haben, menschlich zu sein will also have its world premiere in Hamburg. The section also features productions by filmmakers who tell stories from their original homeland or that of their parents. With Edge of Night, Cologne-based filmmaker Türker Süer presents his stirring debut about two brothers caught up in the maelstrom of the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.
FILMFEST HAMBURG opens the gateway to the world with the renamed “Hamburg Premieres” section. The films in this programme are “Made in Hamburg”, i.e. funded, shot, produced or post-produced in Hamburg, and look beyond the city’s borders. The feature film debut of Ngo The Chau Der Buchspazierer, based on the novel of the same name by Carsten Henn, will be shown. Director Nora Fingscheidt’s new film The Outrun is about a young woman in the solitude of the Orkney Islands. Cherry Juice is the feature film debut of Hamburg-based actress Mersiha Husagic about a wild and unpredictable night in Sarajevo. Marie Nasemann plays her first leading role in Lynn Oona Baur’s exciting and multi-layered psychological drama Manchmal denke ich plötzlich an dich.
Oscar heralds
Countries from all over the world are gradually announcing which film will be in the running for the Academy Award for Best International Film. FILMFEST HAMBURG has some of the productions in its programme, such as Kneecap (Ireland), Three Kilometers to the End of the World (Romania), Everybody Loves Touda (Morocco), Universal Language (Canada), Cloud (Japan) and The Seeds of the Sacred Fig (Germany).
TV Movies on the Big Screen
The focus of the TV productions selected for the “Television” section is on bold and innovative storytelling, diverse perspectives and strong cinematic statements. The section opens with Lars Becker’s socio-critical neo-noir crime thriller Die Polizistin und die Sprache des Todes, which will be shown out of competition. In Simon Ostermann’s school drama Von uns wird es keiner sein, friendships are put to the test when an anonymous suicide threat on social media reaches a high school, keeping students, parents, and faculty on edge. There are only a few days to find out who is behind the threat. Two series in the programme are both emotional snapshots and tell bizarre stories with an experimental character. In BFF – Best Family Forever and Deadlines, it is primarily women who set out and add a new spirit to society. They don’t see themselves in part-time jobs and don’t want to subordinate themselves to a model in which they are dependent on a male breadwinner. Instead, they envision new family models. The series Black Fruit takes a look at the center of society from the point of view of a Black queer main character. Lalo, played by the creator of the series, Lamin Leroy Gibba, shows his view of Germany. The series was directed by Elisha Smith-Leverock and David Ụzọchukwu. The series celebrated its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival and will be shown in Hamburg for the first time on October 3, the “Free-for-all Day”, in two blocks of three episodes each. In between, there will be a workshop discussion with those involved about the creative processes.
Films for Young Cinema-Goers
The MICHEL Children’s and Youth Film Festival – a regular feature of FILMFEST HAMBURG since 2003 – will open on September 27th at Studio Kino with the Dutch film Superkrachten voor je hoofd (Director: Dylan Haegens). Seven other films will also be competing for the MICHEL Film Prize MAJA, endowed with 10,000 euros and donated by Hamburg cinema operator Hans-Peter Jansen. A jury of children and teenagers will award the prize on October 3rd, prior to the closing Dutch film Jippie No More (Director: Margien Rogaar). Other films in competition this year come from Canada (Blue Sky Jo), New Zealand (The Mountain), South Korea (It’s Okay!), Norway (Lars ist LOL), and Germany (Grüße vom Mars, Weihnachten der Tiere).
A new feature at the MICHEL Children’s and Youth Film Festival this year is the Animation Theme Day on September 28th. The programme will include the films Niko – Beyond the Northern Lights and Weihnachten der Tiere, as well as the one-hour interactive show “Adventure Animation” with Hamburg producer Maite Woköck.
Out of competition, the animated film Die Heinzels – Neue Mützen, neue Mission will be shown for free at Cinemaxx Dammtor on October 3rd, the day of free admission, along with two episodes of Pfefferkörner in a new cast. The “Reihe für Minis” will offer an educational short film program for children aged four and up.
Most films will be shown in their original versions with live German dubbing in the cinema. The film discussions at the MICHEL Film Festival will be moderated by children and teenagers aged eleven to sixteen, who will introduce the films and lead the audience conversations with the guests. The young reporters of MICHEL MOVIE KIDS will cover the entire festival, conduct interviews, and review the films on their own blog. To kick off the festival, the MICHEL Children’s and Youth Film Festival will be represented on September 15th at World Children’s Day in Planten un Blomen.
Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival
For the third time, the Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival will present its national competition with Ukrainian feature films as part of FILMFEST HAMBURG. The selected films mainly deal with the retrospective view of the Soviet era and its impact on the identity of Ukrainians today. The festival will open on October 1 with the film Diagnosis: Dissent (Director: Denys Tarasov). Other feature films competing for the 2000 USD Scythian Deer Award are The Editorial Office (Director: Roman Bondarchuk), The Glass House (Director: Taras Dron), Grey Bees (Director: Dmytro Moiseiev), Stepne (Director: Maryna Vrona), Oxygen Station (director: Ivan Tymchenko) and the closing film Fragments of Ice (Director: Maria Stoianova).
Free-for-all Day – October 3 2024
Hamburg audience is invited to celebrate the “Free-for-all Day” on October 3. Thanks to the support of the Hamburg Ministry of Culture and Media, 35 films will be screened free of charge in 14 festival cinemas on that day, including the literary adaptation Der Buchspazierer, the six-part series Black Fruit, the Moroccan film Everybody Loves Touda and the latest film by Douglas Sirk Award winner Andrea Arnold, Bird. Thanks to further funding from the Hapag-Lloyd Foundation, many of these films have been subtitled in German. Free tickets for October 3 will be available online and at advance booking offices from September 12, and also at the box office during the festival. Ticket contingents will be gradually released to give as many people as possible a chance to get tickets for their desired screenings.
Awards & Juries
Experienced and renowned directors, actors, producers, and creatives from the film and television industry will serve on the various juries to decide this year’s awards, including Fatih Akin, Pia Lenz, Fabian Gasmia, and actress Margarita Broich. FILMFEST HAMBURG will award a total of 125,000 euros in prize money this year, including the 25,000 euro Hamburg Producer Award for International Co-productions and the 25,000 euro Hamburg Producer Award for German Feature Films, both donated by the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. Other awards include the 25,000 euro Hamburg Producer Award for German TV Productions, donated by the Association of Film and Television Producers (VFF), as well as the VFF Special Award for Serial Formats (10,000 euros), the 5,000 euro Political Film Award from the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the NDR Newcomer Award (5,000 euros), the Arthouse Cinema Award (5,000 euros, donated by MOIN Film Funding Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein), the Critics’ Award (undotted), and the FILMFEST HAMBURG Audience Award, donated by the Hapag-Lloyd Foundation (5,000 euros). Additionally, the MICHEL Film Award MAJA (10,000 euros) and the Albert Wiederspiel Award (10,000 euros), also donated by the Hapag-Lloyd Foundation, will be presented. The Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival will award the 3,500 USD Scythian Deer Award for the best feature film of its festival.
Filmfest Hamburg Industry Days
For the fifth time, the EXPLORER CONFERENCE will connect with FILMFEST HAMBURG, serving as the kickoff for this year’s four-day INDUSTRY DAYS. The theme of the future-focused conference is “Risk & Reward.” Only by being willing to take risks it is possible to create a diverse and innovative programme for cinema, TV, and streaming. Through keynotes and panels, renowned speakers from around the world will provide insights into how risks in the development, production, and marketing of new films and series can be better identified, managed, and how “reward” expectations can be more accurately assessed. The EXPLORER CONFERENCE will take place on September 30 across two stages at the Katholische Akademie Hamburg, in cooperation with the Producers Association and MOIN Film Fund. Participation is only possible with prior ticket booking.
The subsequent INDUSTRY DAYS will continue the exchange on key industry topics. These include women in leadership, diversity in the film industry, increasing the visibility of talent films, and the future of television. An important keynote on creativity will be delivered by Daniel Lamarre: as part of the strategic partnership between the Government of Quebec and the Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, the former CEO and Vice Chairman of Cirque du Soleil will share in his keynote what he learned while leading a creative company and how he balanced creative ambition with business demands. Another focus will be on young talent. Once again, FILMFEST HAMBURG’s #ATELIER24, in cooperation with the Semaine de la Critique in Cannes, will bring together young talents from German film schools with professionals from around the world. The first ENCOURAGE Film Talents Industry Day on October 1 will focus on networking, career development, and amplifying the voices of a new generation of filmmakers. Additionally, new film ideas will be pitched to the industry for future projects.
Sponsors & Supporters
FILMFEST HAMBURG is funded and supported by the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, as well as its loyal main partners: Deutsche Fernsehlotterie, Hapag-Lloyd Foundation, Studio Hamburg Group, Grand Elysee Hotel, and mobility partner MOIA. Additional supporters include the Karin and Walter Blüchert Memorial Foundation, ARTE, main media partner NDR, and over 60 other partners, sponsors, and supporters. New partners this year include HaspaJoker and MUBI.
In organizing the national competition of the Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival, FILMFEST HAMBURG receives support from the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, as well as the Senate Chancellery as part of the Pact for Solidarity and Future Kyiv Hamburg.
FILMFEST HAMBURG takes place from September 26 to October 5, 2024. More than 120 productions from around the world will be showcased as world, European, German, or Hamburg premieres. Festival cinemas include Abaton, CinemaxX Dammtor, Metropolis, Passage, and Studio-Kino. Ticket sales begin on September 12.
