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Twenty German films will world premiere in the New German Cinema and Spotlight sections of the 42nd Munich International Film Festival, which runs from June 27-July 6.

The new German Cinema competition section will include 16 world premieres, with another four in the Spotlight section.

The films range from offbeat comedies such as Ganzer halber Bruder and Zweigstelle, to dramas such as Sechswochenamt, thriller such as Brick and ensemble films such as #blacksheep and Mädchen Mädchen.

“The German films at the Munich International Film Festival reflect the times we’re in: a lot of people are caught up in exceptional circumstances,” saidChristoph Gröner,...

Exclusive: German Films, the agency that promotes German cinema globally, has unveiled the seven participants for the eighth edition of its annual Face to Face campaign, which include talents who have worked on projects ranging from Berlin Alexanderplatz to David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future to Amazon Prime Video hit We Children of Bahnhof Zoo.

This year’s edition, which is dubbed Face to Face with German Films – The Filmmakers, will showcase seven filmmakers who have made a lasting impact on the German film industry with their creative and artistic work. The initiative is considered a prominent platform for showcasing German talent to the international film and television worlds.

The participants this year are: screenwriter Sönke Anderson, who has worked on projects such as 2019 Grimme Award winner Familie Lotzmann Auf Den Barrikaden and upcoming opera film Orphea In Love; actor Welket Bungué, who has appeared in Berlin Alexanderplatz, Body...

Luisa (Lou Strenger) and Chrissimo (Christoph Bertram) get distracted by the wildflowers on their way to his parents, Ferhat (Ferhat Kaleli) and Peter (Peter Brachschoss) in Florian Schmitz’ smartly edited Le Pré Du Mal

Florian Schmitz’s Le Pré Du Mal, along with Alison Kuhn's Fluffy Tales, Jonatan Schwenk’s Zoon (co-written with Merlin Flügel), Luis Schubert’s Blind Spots, Kilian Armando Friedrich’s Edgy, Lina Drevs’s Sis - Best Sister, Felix Länge’s Why We Juggle, Laurenz Otto’s Against All Odds (Allen Zweifeln Zum Trotz), and Jakob Werner’s How Such An Annoying Drizzle Can Be Silent (Wie Ein So Lästiger Regen Schweigen Kann) is in the Next Generation Short Tiger program screening at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Florian Schmitz with Anne-Katrin Titze: “I have different influences I would say. The basis for me - I know it sounds like a cliché, but Truffaut is always a big inspiration.

Jonatan Schwenk on Zoon: “I think the first thing that I had in mind was an approach to make a different film than my last one [Sog].” Photo: courtesy of Jonatan Schwenk

Jonatan Schwenk’s Zoon (co-written with Merlin Flügel) along with Alison Kuhn’s Fluffy Tales, Florian Schmitz’s Le Pré Du Mal, Luis Schubert’s Blind Spots, Kilian Armando Friedrich’s Edgy, Lina Drevs’s Sis - Best Sister, Felix Länge’s Why We Juggle, Laurenz Otto’s Against All Odds (Allen Zweifeln Zum Trotz), and Jakob Werner’s How Such An Annoying Drizzle Can Be Silent (Wie Ein So Lästiger Regen Schweigen Kann) are in the Next Generation Short Tiger program screening at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Jonatan Schwenk with Anne-Katrin Titze outside the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud: “An old monastery, super old, I think built around a thousand years ago. I’m here in a writing residency for animation.

Alexandra Sagurna, Hyun Wanner, and Nadine Dubois in Alison Kuhn’s Fluffy Tales: “We wanted a production design (by Lucia Eifler) that was a little bit abstract but not as abstract that it would seem like a Wes Anderson movie …” Photo: Antonia Pepita Giesler

I encountered Alison Kuhn’s powerful documentary The Case You in 2021 during the 15th edition of German Currents, co-produced by the American Cinematheque and Goethe-Institut in Los Angeles. Six women testify about the abuse they experienced in auditions.

Alison Kuhn with Anne-Katrin Titze on The Case You and Fluffy Tales: “This structural problem that we’re aiming at, is not one of gender, but it’s one of power positions.”

Alison’s narrative short Fluffy Tales, starring Alexandra Sagurna with Hyun Wanner, Nadine Dubois, Lorenz Krieger, and Anne Thoemmes, produced by Sarah Dreyer and Laura Zeuch, for Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf explores the same misuse of power.

The Dutch documentary section comprises eight world premieres.

The International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (Idfa) has announced its Dutch competition titles, as well as the selections for its Luminous and Frontlight strands.

The festival is due to run as a hybrid edition from November 18 to December 6, though some physical elements of the edition have been scaled back due to fresh Covid-19 restrictions in the Netherlands.

The Dutch documentary section comprises eight world premieres, and includes Heddy Hoonigan’s 100Up which tells the stories of seven colorful centenarians. Honigmann’s previous feature Buddy screened at Moma and Hot Docs as well as at Idfa.