30 Years of Future: Congratulations to Film Festival Cologne
- Around 70 film and TV productions, 100 „corona-compliant“ individual events to mark the anniversary
- Filmstiftung-backed drama „Proxima“ opens festival
- 3rd edition of „European Work in Progress“ (EWIP) with a large response
- 5th European Series Day on 2 October
The Film Festival Cologne will open on 1 October with the Filmstiftung-backed drama „Proxima“ by the director Alice Winocour with the Oscar-nominated actors Eva Green and Matt Dillon in the lead roles. Around 70 national and international film and TV productions will be screened in the eight days leading up to the awards ceremony in Cologne’s Palladium on 8 October. The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW is serving once more as a partner and supporter of the anniversary edition.
Petra Müller, CEO of the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW: „Congratulations to Martina Richter and her whole team on 30 years of organising the film and TV festival. Congratulations are also due for this year’s prizewinners whose outstanding works enrich us all. We hope that all of the festival’s visitors will have an inspiring week.“
Film Award Cologne 2020 presented to the director Dominik Graf
The renowned Film Award Cologne, donated by the City of Cologne and the Filmstiftung, is going to the director and writer Dominik Graf, who is being honoured for his special contribution to the further development of film and media language. The festival’s main award is endowed with 25,000 Euros and will be presented at the closing gala on 8 October.
International Awards to the actors Sandra Hüller and Mads Mikkelsen, the directors Thomas Vinterberg, Radu Ciorniciuc and Richard Huber and CD Projekt Red
This year will see the festival presenting two awards in recognition of outstanding acting achievements. Sandra Hüller will be presented with the International Actress Award. Hüller received many prizes for her role in „Toni Erdmann“, including the German and European Film Awards. She can currently be seen in the cinemas in „Exile“ as well as in the opening film „Proxima“. The International Actors Award will recognise the Danish international star Mads Mikkelsen, well known from numerous arthouse films and blockbusters. The Danish director and writer Thomas Vinterberg is to receive the Hollywood Reporter Award for his latest film „Another Round“, and the director Radu Ciorniciuc will be presented with the Phoenix Award for his documentary „Acasa, my Home“. The Manfred Stelzer Award is being presented for the first time this year and will be going to the director Richard Huber for his work on „Der König von Köln“ which the Filmstiftung supported during its production. The Cologne Creative Award will be presented to the Polish games studio CD Projekt Red.
Best of Cinema Fiction
The black gangster comedy „Ballad for a pierced Heart“ by Yannis Economides, which was also backed by the Filmstiftung, will be having its premiere in the Best of Cinema Fiction sidebar. The tragicomedy centres on the beautiful Olga who elopes with a has-been former pop star and takes a million Euros with her, an action that subsequently triggers a fatal domino effect in the local crime world.
Film Award NRW for the best film in the „Made in NRW“ section
Nine fiction features and documentaries are competing in the „Made in NRW“ section for the Film Award NRW. The productions have either been shot in NRW or realised by NRW producers or NRW directors. Apart from the opening film „Proxima“, the competition line-up includes the fiction features „Never Gonna Snow Again“ by Małgorzata Szumowska and co-director Michał Englert, Petra Seegers' „Vatersland“ and „Kids Run“ by Barbara Ott as well as the documentaries „Der Ast, auf dem ich sitze – ein Steuerparadies in der Schweiz“ by Luzia Schmid, Miguel Müller-Frank's „Mit eigenen Augen“, „Oeconomia“ by Carmen Losmann, and Philipp Reichenheim's „Freakscene – The Story of Dinosaur Jr.“ Supported by the City of Cologne, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, the prize has been awarded since 2016 and is endowed with 20,000 Euros in total.
3rd European Work in Progress Cologne (05.-07.10.2020; Cinenova Cologne)
Over 165 projects were submitted to participate in the Filmstiftung-backed market platform „European Work in Progress Cologne“ (EWIP), a substantial increase on the previous year. 28 film projects were selected for pitching to international distributors, sales agents, festival programmers, producers and financiers. The international jury is composed of Melanie Andernach (Made in Germany), Leslie Chen (Blossoms Entertainment), Sebastian Lückel (ARD Degeto) and Triin Tramberg (Tallinn Black Nights Festival). The winners will receive prizes to the value of 37,500 Euros. EWIP is organised in cooperation with AG Verleih.
5th European Series Day (02.10.2020; Filmpalast Cologne)
The trends in Europe’s series market are at the focus of the fifth edition of the European Series Day. The programme will include producer Christian Beetz and showrunner Georg Tschurtschenthaler (both from gebrueder beetz filmproduktion) giving an insight into their work on the first German Netflix documentary series „A Perfect Crime“. Screenwriter Andreas Linke will be joined by the director Andreas Senn and producer Susanne Flor (Network Movie) to present the new ZDFneo drama series „Unbroken“, and the director Dror Zahavi, producer Simone Höller (FFP New Media) and SWR commissioning editor Claudia Gerlach-Benz will deliver a case study on the historical event series „Little America“. The event is organised by the Film Festival Cologne, Creative Europe Desk NRW, the ifs international film school cologne and the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW.
Supporters and partners
The Film Festival Cologne is supported by the State of NRW, the City of Cologne and the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW. WDR and ZDF are among the long-standing partners.
Information on the festival: www.filmfestival.cologne