32 Filmfest Dresden Announces Complete Programme

338 Films // Themes: Trauma, Female (Short) Films // Juries Filled // Ticket Pre-Sales Start

Three weeks before the festival start, Filmfest Dresden has released the complete programme for its 32^nd edition, which is running from 8 to 13 September in a hybrid format. The total of 338 films in the competitions and special programmes will be screened at almost all of the usual venues, while complying with the hygiene rules. Moreover, selected events in the etc. - events.trainings.connections section will also be transmitted digitally. The prizemoney to be awarded in the ten "Golden Horsemen" and the four special prizes has been increased this year to € 68,000. The Ostsächsische Sparkasse Dresden bank is the new prize sponsor (€ 2,000) for the Golden Horseman to be awarded by the Youth Jury in the International Competition. Tickets to the festival events can now be purchased online or from the usual advance ticket agencies.

Thematic Focus of the 32 Filmfest Dresden: Trauma and Female (Short) Film

Especially when compiling the special programmes, the thematic focus of this year’s festival – Traces of Trauma – was to the fore. The series MONITORING MIGRATION – THE WORLD ON THE MOVE, which has been curated in cooperation with the Collaborative Research Centre 1285 "Invectivity" at Technische Universität Dresden, explores, among others, the filmic depictions of migration phenomena that repeatedly result in traumatic experiences. This can be seen in the THERE AND BACK AGAIN – SECONDOS’ TALES special programme with the first descendants of migrants living in Switzerland (who are known as "Secondos" or "Secondas” there). It focuses cinematically on their everyday tensions between identity issues, prejudices and reality, belonging and alienation. The trauma to which us humans are subjecting planet Earth is being addressed in the ANIMATED 1: HOW DARE YOU? programme. The animation artist David Buob is the guest curator of the programme, and he explores this subject from various perspectives – philosophically, as a critique of capitalism, politically, bitingly and even with black humour.

A further festival focal area concentrates on the (short) film output from women: In the "Poetical. Political. Subversive." retrospective, Filmfest Dresden is exploring the situation of Female Directors from the DEFA Studios and Independent Film in the GDR. In the two ON REBELLION and THE COUNTRY NEEDS NEW WOMEN programmes, among others, works from the female Dresden artists Christine Schlegel, Marion Rasche and Monika Anderson are being shown together with documentaries from Heike Misselwitz. Christine Schlegel’s highly varied artistic output is also the focus of two further events. In the PHASES exhibition in Galerie Raskolnikow, Schlegel is presenting "Moving Images" together with the Dresden artist Helge Leiberg. Moreover in the MASTERCLASS WITH CHRISTINE SCHLEGEL: MOVING IMAGES, insights are being given into her multifaceted oeuvre, ranging from painting to surreal correspondences, installations and video projections through to experimental film essays.

The influence women had in the GDR animated film industry is being examined in the NO ROLE FOR US – WOMEN IN THE DEFA STUDIO FOR ANIMATION FILM exhibition. Here, the German Institute for Animated Film (DIAF) is presenting contemporary witnesses, statistical surveys and extensive archival material. The HAPPINESS MACHINE project is shining a light on the future in ten idiosyncratic, quirky, playful and especially musical short films – all of which are made by female directors – that explore the issue of a fair and just society.

Programme catalogue download:
https://www.filmfest-dresden.de/files/filmfest/2020/PDF-Dateien/FFD32_KATALOG_web.pdf

32 Filmfest Dresden Juries: New Name and More Prizemoney for Gender Diversity Award

Yet again this year, Filmfest Dresden has appointed six juries to award the "Golden Horsemen" in the competition sections:

The International Jury consists of: The Polish artist Renata Gasiorowska (2017 Golden Horseman for CIPKA), Florian Fernandez from France, the coordinator of the Short Film Corner in the Cannes Film Festival, as well as Sanne Jehoul, co-director of the Glasgow Short Film Festival in Scotland.

The jury members deciding on the awards in the National Competition include: The screenplay mentor and project consultant Gabriele Brunnenmeyer, the director Hannes Schilling (THE PROBAND), who has already won the German Short Film Award, and the award-winning animation director Nikita Diakur (FEST, UGLY), who has also created the 2020 festival trailer.

The Golden Horseman Sound Design prize is being awarded by: Freya Arde, a prizewinning musician and film score composer, Nikko Weidemann, a Grimme Award winner, musician and composer, as well as Johannes Gerstengarbe, the owner of Ballroom Studios, which has already sponsored this film sound award for the sixth time.

The film prize for gender diversity is being awarded for the third time and it has been accorded a new name this year, LUCA. The jury is composed of: Tatjana Turanskyj, a director, producer and co-founder of ProQuote Direction (now called ProQuote Film), Barbara Wallbraun, a director (WOMEN ON THE OTHER SIDE) and film and media educationalist, as well as Christoph May, founder of the "Hetox Magazine" and the "Detox Masculinity Network". This year, the prizemoney has been increased from € 1,200 to € 2,000.

Furthermore in the International and National Competitions, the two Youth Juries, each consisting of three members, get to select their favourites.

In addition to the juries, the audiences are also accorded a voice in determining further prizes, such as the Audience Awards in the International and National Competitions, as well as in the Regional Film Night.

Overview of all prizes:  https://www.filmfest-dresden.de/en/festival/awards

Kids and Youth Programme: Once Around the World

For young film fans between 5 and 18 years old, the 32 FILMFEST DRESDEN is again presenting five children and youth programmes with the most interesting short films from the current festival season. 28 films from 16 countries are bringing a whiff of the big wide world into the cinemas and providing the best of entertainment. The programme explores themes such as FAMILY BONDS, FINDING YOUR OWN WAY or even HEADWIND, among others.

The kids and youth film programmes were compiled once more in 2020 with the support of the FILMFEST DRESDEN Young Curators – a group of 20 young film enthusiasts from Dresden and its surroundings. All of these programmes can also be booked as group screenings.

The festival’s long-standing cooperative partner, the Fantasia Animation School, is again present a showcase event with a live performance and animation films for small and big cineastes. In the "How Modelling Clay Comes to Life" workshop, the artist and filmmaker Izabela Plucińska reveals how you can conjure up animated film heroes and images using modelling clay and even imbue them with life.

Kids and youth programme flyer:
https://www.filmfest-dresden.de/files/filmfest/2020/PDF-Dateien/FFD32_FLYER-Kids-Jugend_FINAL_SEPTEMBER_DIGITAL.pdf

Festival trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58shiYGJVuA&feature=youtu.be