34th Film Festival Cologne: NRW hosting impressive films and creatives

Cinema will be the dominating element in Cologne for the next two weeks: yesterday, 15 October, the kick-off for the market platform European Work in Progress took place and will be followed by the International Distribution Summit, , two events where national and international producers, filmmakers and industry partners will come together in Cologne. The 34th edition of Film Festival Cologne will then open on Thursday, 17 October. The Filmpalast and the Filmhaus will serve as the venues for the presentation of outstanding feature films and documentaries, TV productions and series, with many of them reflecting the current social and political developments. A total of 17 Filmstiftung-backed productions will be screening in the programme, including the opening film “Riefenstahl” by Andres Veiel as a German premiere after its world premiere in Venice. In addition, the festival-goers will be treated to a varied accompanying programme with international conferences and artist talks. The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW is one of the festival’s long-standing backers, other partners and supporters are the Federal State of North-Rhine Westphalia and the City of Cologne.

Walid Nakschbandi, CEO of the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW: „The Film Festival Cologne has evolved into one of the outstanding film highlights in the annual calendar and become an important festival for the general public. Cologne is an international market place for film lovers. And an impressive programme will also be shown here this year: from 'MOSES – 13 Steps' through 'The Assessment' to 'Transamazonia' – and a wide range of NRW productions and forward-looking TV highlights. National and international creatives will come together in this lively atmosphere for an intensive dialogue within the industry.”

EWIP – EUROPEAN WORK IN PROGRESS (14 -16 October)
The independent industry event for producers and distributors is again being held upstream of the Film Festival Cologne. Up to 30 European co-productions are being presented again this year at EWIP and will vie for awards and additional partners. 29 film projects, which can play a significant role in the international film business,  were selected from a record 220 submissions. This year will again see EWIP continuing its focus on African cinema that was started last year. EWIP is supported by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW.
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IFDS – INTERNATIONAL FILM DISTRIBUTION SUMMIT (15 -17 October)
The International Film Distribution Summit will be held for the third time this year and has again attracted top-notch players from around the globe to discuss innovations in distribution practices in a changing market. The IFDS offers a programme of keynotes, master classes and panels and is backed by the Filmstiftung NRW. Interesting input is expected, among other things, from the opening keynote by Kota Takada (SUNDAE/FILMARKS) from Japan. This year will see the Best Innovation Distribution Award 2024 going to the Italian independent distributor Lucky Red.

NRW Competition and Film Award NRW 
13 Filmstiftung-backed productions will be competing in the NRW Competition for the Film Award NRW. „The Assessment“ (augenschein) with Alicia Vikander and Elizabeth Olsen who were in NRW to shoot this film, shows that NRW is a magnet for high-quality international co-productions. The German-Austrian co-production “The Devil’s Bath” (Heimatfilm) will be representing Austria in the Oscars race. The debut feature of the Cologne-based KHM graduate Türker Süer „Edge of Night“ (Match Factory Productions) had already been invited to screen in Venice and  Toronto. The strong line-up of documentaries in the competition is also remarkable: „MOSES – 13 Steps“ (Broadview TV) is moving in the way it tells a universal story of sport, achievement, winning, losing, and the battle against racism and contempt.  „Pol Pot Dancing“ (Fruitmarket) approaches the dictator and his deeds in an artistic way. An independent jury will be deciding on the winner of the € 20,000 Film Award NRW which has been donated by the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the City of Cologne and the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW.

Film Award Cologne 2024 going to Raoul Peck
The festival will close on 24 October with the gala ceremony of the Film Festival Cologne Awards in Cologne’s E-Werk. This year’s Film Award Cologne will be presented to the Haitian director Raoul Peck who  had already great interest with such films as the Oscar-nominated „I Am Not Your Negro“ . The Main prize is donated by the City of Cologne and the Filmstiftung NRW with a cash prize of € 25,000.

More about the conference programme

NETWORK MEETING BENELUX MEETS NRW (17 October)
The network meeting, which is dedicated to partnership relations with the Benelux countries, presents the most important cross-border co-productions of the converging film and media industry in the heart of Europe. Apart from case studies about ‘Fabula’, ‘Club der Dinosaurier’ and ‘Das Zweite Attentat’, the closing panel will also include discussions with Helga Binder (Filmstiftung NRW) and Yort Jansen (Flanders Audiovisual Fund), Ilse Ronteltap (International Film Fund Nederland) and Jean-François Tefnin (Wallimage Tournages).

9th European Series Day (Friday, 18 October)

This year’s European Series Day will once again focus on trends in the European series market and international co-production opportunities. Case studies about new productions, including the drama series ‘A Better Place’ and the political thriller ‘The Kollective’, are on the programme. A market overview, a keynote speech on collaboration with authors and the ‘Series Writers’ Pitch’ from the ifs International Film School Cologne will round off the conference.

NRW-WetThe line-up of  Filmstiftung-backed productions:

NRW competition

Fiction Films
„Der Wald in mir“ by Sebastian Fritzsch / 2Pilots
„Des Teufels Bad“ by  Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala / Heimatfilm
„Edge of Night” by Türker Süer / Match Factory Productions
„Milch ins Feuer“ by Justine Bauer / KHM
„September Says” by Ariane Labed / Match Factory Productions
„The Assessment“ by Fleur Fortuné / augenschein 
„The Outrun“ by Nora Fingscheidt / Weydemann Bros. 
„Transamazonia” by Pia Marais / Pandora Film

Documentaries
„Der dritte Bruder“ by Kathrin Jahrreis / Ester.Reglin.Film
„Die Rückkehr des Filmvorführers“ by Orkhan Aghazadeh / Lichtblick Film- und Fernsehproduktion
„MOSES – 13 Steps“ by Michael Wech/ Broadview TV
„Pol Pot Dancing” by Enrique Sánchez Lansch / Fruitmarket Kultur und Medien
„Riefenstahl“ by Andres Veiel / Vincent Productions (festival’s opening film)

TOP TV
„A Better Place“ (mini-series) by Anne Zohra Berrached, Konstantin Bock / Komplizen Serien
„Das zweite Attentat“ (mini-series) by Barbara Eder / Eikon Media Köln

Special Screenings
„Die Unbeugsamen 2“ by Torsten Körner / Broadview TV
„Uncivilized“ by Bilal Bahadır /cocktailfilms

Distribution funded films in the festival programme
„Universal language”, distributor: Rapid Eye Movies
„All we imagine as light”, distributor: Rapid Eye Movies

Information about the festival: www.filmfestival.cologne