International Women’s Film Festival in Cologne

• 106 films from 37 countries in the programme
• More than 60 international film-makers and experts as guests
• Three NRW-funded films in the programme
• 8 – 13 April, 2014 in Cologne

The Cologne edition of the International Women’s Film Festival Dortmund|Cologne (IFFF) will open on 8 April with the Mexican participant in the International Debut Fiction Feature Film Competition, „The Amazing Catfish“, directed by Claudia Sainte-Luce and lensed by Agnès Godard. Unique throughout Germany, the internationally renowned festival dedicates itself to work by women in all stages of film production. The festival is held from 8 – 13 April, 2014, presenting 106 films from 37 countries in Cologne cinemas. Programme highlights are also screening parallel in Dortmund’s Kino im U.

Two competitions are at the centre of the festival. A three-person jury, consisting of the Turkish director Pelin Esmer, Sundance curator Kim Yutani and the actress Julia Hummer, will be deciding on the € 10,000 International Debut Fiction Feature Film Competition which has eight films in its line-up. There is € 5,000 prize-money for the 8th National Directors of Photography Award to be presented during the festival. The prize in the category for documentaries will go to Christiane Schmidt („The Forest Is Like the Mountains“), while the feature film prize has been picked up by Bine Jankowski (a graduate of the ifs international film school cologne) for her cinematography of the NRW-funded short „Rebecca“.

Over 60 international film-makers and experts are expected to come to Cologne. Apart from such programme elements as the regional focus of Turkey, the 45-title Panorama, workshops and discussions, the IFFF also traditionally organises an extensive programme for children and young people. Thus, the schools film programme will present Petr Oukropec’s children’s film ¨The Blue Tiger¨ („Der blaue Tiger“), which the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW supported for production and distribution with €180,000. Britta Wandaogo's mult-award-winning film ¨Crocodiles Without Saddles¨ („Krokodile ohne Sattel“) (NRW funding: €12,000) can be seen as part of a schools project.

The International Women’s Film Festival is held every alternative year in Cologne or Dortmund under the artistic direction of Silke Johanna Räbiger. It is funded by, among others, the Ministry of Family Affairs, Children, Youth, Culture and Sport of the State of NRW, the Ministry for Health, Emancipation, Nursing Care and Senior Citizens of the State of NRW, the German Federal Ministry for Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, the Arts Office of the City of Dortmund, the Arts Office of the City of Cologne as well as the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW. Further information at www.frauenfilmfestival.eu.