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Film und Medien Stiftung NRW➝News➝News➝32nd Film Festival Cologne: international film and television industry guests in NRW

32nd Film Festival Cologne: international film and television industry guests in NRW

  • Prominent award winners: Michel Hazanavicius, Nina Hoss, Mia Hansen-Løve, Benedetta Argentieri
  • Filmstiftung-backed opening film: "The Sitting Duck" by Jean-Paul Salomé with Isabelle Huppert
  • NRW competition with 14 films funded by the Filmstiftung
  • 5th edition of the European Work in Progress (EWIP) market platform upstream of the festival
  • International Distribution Summit for international distributors on the eve of the festival for the first time 
  • 7th European Series Day on October 20

The 32nd edition of Film Festival Cologne (FFCGN) kicks off on Friday, October 21, with the motto of "The Power of Images" running as a common thread through the programme again. With its NRW Competition, screenings, conferences and networking events, the festival offers a platform for outstanding national and international feature films, documentaries, series as well as for globally important trends and developments in audiovisual storytelling. The ceremony for the Film Festival Cologne Awards in Cologne’s E-Werk on 27 October will provide a festive conclusion to proceedings. The Film Festival’s partners and sponsors are the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the City of Cologne and the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW (FMS).

"We are expecting to see outstanding filmmakers and industry experts in town from this Thursday for the Film Festival Cologne which will once again be demonstrating its position as an industry platform and public event. There will be presentations of top-class works of international arthouse cinema and films made in NRW," says Petra Müller, CEO of the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW. "We are pleased that the EWIP market platform is now going to be held in Cologne for the fifth time upstream of the Film Festival. The first International Distribution Summit will be held after EWIP with a focus on innovation in distribution and play host in Cologne to international experts coming here to engage in an exchange of ideas and experiences."

The Film Award Cologne 2022 going to Oscar winner Michel Hazanavicius 
The prestigious Film Award Cologne, donated by the City of Cologne and Filmstiftung NRW, will be going this year to the French director, screenwriter and Oscar winner Michel Hazanavicius ("The Artist"). There will be a screening of his new zombie film "Final Cut" which opened this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The main prize of the Film Festival Cologne is endowed with 25,000 Euros.

Film Award NRW 
The NRW competition has never been so exciting: 14 fiction and documentary productions, which were shot in NRW, realised by NRW producers or directed by NRW directors, will be competing for the Film Award NRW. Apart from the opening film "The Sitting Duck" by Jean-Paul Salomé, they include "You Will Not Have My Hate" by Kilian Riedhof, which had already been presented in Locarno, Fatih Akin's new film "Rheingold" about the gangster rapper Xatar, "We Are Next Of Kin" by Hans-Christian Schmid, the bestseller adaptation "All Russians Love Birch Trees" by Pola Beck and the mockumentary "Diamante und mein Bruder" by Georg Nonnenmacher, Ingo Haeb and Karin Berghammer. The documentaries "Can and me" by Michael P. Aust and "The Illusionist" about the art consultant Helge Achenbach by Birgit Schulz will be having their German premieres in the competition. An independent jury (actress Friederike Becht, director Sabine Bernardi, professor of dramaturgy at the KHM Melissa de Raaf and film journalists Sven von Reden and Thomas Abeltshauser) will decide on the winner of the Film Award  NRW, which is endowed with a total of 20,000 Euros and donated  by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the City of Cologne and the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW.

Other award-winners and prizes
This year the nationally and internationally acclaimed actress Nina Hoss receives the International Actors Award. The French director Mia Hansen-Løve is to be honoured with the Hollywood Reporter Award for her new film "One Fine Morning". The autofictional drama had already been screened in Cannes. This year’s phoenix Award goes to the journalist and documentary filmmaker Benedetta Argentieri for her documentary "The Matchmaker" which has her interviewing the British jihadist Tooba Gondal. The Manfred Stelzer Award for special German comedies will be presented for the third time. It will be going to the Filmstiftung-backed road movie "Daughters" by Nana Neul. And this will also be the third time that the FFCGN and the State of NRW will be handing out the "NRW Media Award for Sustainable Development and  Engagement" for outstanding moving image campaigns with content on sustainable development and engagement (award ceremony: Wednesday, 26 October).

7th European Series Day (20.10.2022; Filmpalast Cologne) 
The trends in the European series market will once again be the focus of the European Series Day. Producers, authors and broadcaster representatives will provide insights into their work and discuss issues about story development, (co-)production and the distribution of serial content. The programme will include a keynote address entitled "Stories Worth Telling" by Carolina Dias (Executive Producer of "Far from Home Movie", "Rage") and the panel on "Producing in the Showrunner Model". The discussion is part of a think tank series from the FMS and MEDIA-funded European Showrunner Programme at the ifs internationale filmschule köln. The creators of the short-form series "Das hübsche Gesicht" and "Lu von Loser" will talk about diversity in the field of series in a panel entitled "The Future is Female!" Other case studies about German and European productions are featured in the programme, including the Filmstiftung-backed series "I Am Scrooge" by Zeitsprung Pictures. The organisers of the 7th European Series Day are Film Festival Cologne, Creative Europe Desk NRW, ifs internationale filmschule köln, and the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW.

Upstream of the festival

European Work in Progress Cologne (17-19.10.2022, Cinenova Cologne) 
The fifth edition of the market platform "European Work in Progress Cologne" (EWIP) will take place ahead of this year’s Film Festival. 150 projects had been entered. 28 feature films, documentaries and animated films intended for international theatrical release were selected. They will be presented in Cologne to international distributors, sales agents, production companies, festivals and financiers. An international jury, which includes Olivier Barbier (mk2 films), Vanja Kaludjercic (International Film Festival Rotterdam), Julien Rejl (Cannes Directors’ Fortnight), Saralisa Volm (producer, director, writer and actress) and Thanassis Karathanos (Twenty Twenty Vision, Pallas Film) this year, will award prizes for the best pitches worth around 60,000 Euros. EWIP is organised by AG Verleih and supported by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW.

International Distribution Summit (19.10. – 20.10.2022, Filmpalast Cologne)
The International Distribution Summit (IDS) will take place this year as the first global platform for international distributors. The conference of AG Verleih offers a two-day programme of keynotes, master classes and panels to exchange ideas and give impetus to strategies and concepts for innovative distribution practices and new business models. Leading international distributors and sales agents, such as Elissa Federoff from cult distributor Neon (USA) and Lucy Savage from London’s Studio Soho, are expected to present their concepts for success and discuss case studies. The most innovative distribution strategy will be honoured with the International Distribution Award. The first IDS is taking place in cooperation with EWIP, among others, and is being supported by the Filmstiftung, BKM and Neustart Kultur.

17 Filmstiftung-backed productions at Film Festival Cologne
A total of 17 productions supported by the Filmstiftung are being screened in the festival’s various sections, reflecting creative filmmaking in NRW in the best possible way: both national and international productions as well as ranging from fiction to documentary.

The Filmstiftung-backed productions:

NRW Competition
Feature films

  • "A Room of My Own" by Ioseb Bliadze, screenplay: Taki Mumladze, Ioseb Bliadze; Color of May
  • "All Russians Love Birch Trees" by Pola Beck, screenplay: Burkhardt Wunderlich; augenschein filmproduktion
  • "Lost Transport" by Saskia Diesing (director & screenplay); Coin Film
  • "Diamante und mein Bruder" by Ingo Haeb, Georg Nonnenmacher, Karin Berghammer, screenplay: Georg Nonnenmacher, Ines Häufler, Ingo Haeb; Corso Film
  • "La Syndicaliste – The Sitting Duck" by Jean-Paul Salomé, screenplay: Jean-Paul Salomé, Fadette Drouard; Heimatfilm
  • "You Will Not Have My Hate" by Kilian Riedhoff, screenplay: Jan Braren, Marc Blöbaum, Kilian Riedhof, Stéphanie Kalfon; Komplizen Film
  • "Rheingold" by Fatih Akin (director & screenplay); Bombero International
  • "Vamos a la Playa" by Bettina Blümer, screenplay: Bettina Blümer, Daniel Nocke; Achtung Panda!
  • "We Are Next Of Kin" by Hans-Christian Schmid, screenplay: Hans-Christian Schmid und Michael Gutmann; 23/5 Production

Documentaries

Manfred Stelzer Prize

  • "Daughters" by Nana Neul, screenplay: Nana Neul, Lucy Fricke; Heimatfilm

Special Screenings

  • "Bonn" by Claudia Garde, screenplay: Claudia Garde, Martin Rehbock, Peter Furrer, based on an idea from Gerrit Hermans; Odeon Fiction
  • "The Sound of Cologne" by Kristina Schippling, screenplay: Sarah Schygulla; Televisor Troika

Festival information: https://filmfestival.cologne/en/