BY LIZA FOREMAN
SAN SEBASTIAN – It wasn’t long ago that German directors making the festival rounds typically were Wim Wenders, Werner Herzog, Margarethe von Trotta and Volker Schlondorff.
But a slew of newer directors has come up through the ranks in the past two decades, alongside a constellation of German stars, thanks to ongoing support from local powerhouses like Constantin Film and Jan Mojto’s BETA Film, not to mention newer initiatives like the four-year-old studio Leonine – and some of the production outfits that studio houses, like Wiedemann & Berg.
This week’s San Sebastian International Film Festival (September 22-30, 2023) has on display some of the rising newcomers.
Altogether, 16 German productions and co-productions are taking part in the 71st edition of the festival which wraps on Saturday.
“Almost every year, we have a film in competition here,” commented German Films’ Baumann. “This summer, we had two films in the Karlovy Vary main competition. In Locarno, we had three films. In Toronto, we had three world premieres. Now we have established names and newer names.”
Director Christian Petzold presents a masterclass for the Nest student film section and is on the jury. The festival presents his latest film: the award-winning Afire (Schramm Film Koerner Weber Kaiser) which is selected for this year’s Perlak section (for films that have already received acclaim or awards at other festivals).
Petzold’s drama about four people staying in a holiday home during a hot dry summer, took home the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the Berlinale in February this year.
While Petzold is perhaps the best known of the Berlin Film School Movement that emerged in the 2000s, newer talent is also in town.
“We are promoting a lot of first- or second-time directors here. In Cannes, too, we had both established names like Wim Wenders and newer talent,” affirmed Hautle who helps promote German films to festivals.
In San Sebastián, the New Directors section selected Farhad Delaram’s drama Achilles (Basis Berlin, Barrierifilm) which world premiered in Toronto.
Showing in the Nest student section for short films, Slimane (Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin, DFFB) by Carlos Pereira looks at the exclusion of queer people in a near future.
German director Michael Fetter Nathansky presents his second film, Mannequins (AT, Contando Films, Studio Zentral) in the WIP Europe works in progress section.
German films can be found throughout the festival.
The docu She Chef (Horse & Fruit Filmproduktion) by Melanie Liebheit and Gereon Wetzel is being shown out of competition in the Culinary Zinema section.
The German production Moonbound (Brave New Work, Little Dream Entertainment) screens out of competition in the Movies for Kids section. Directed by Ali Samadi Ahadi, it tells the story of little Peter’s adventure to save his sister from the Moon Man.
Co-productions in San Sebastian include the beautiful animation competition title Sultana’s Dream by Isabel Herguera which is co-produced by Germany’s Fabian&Fred.
Also in competition, Puan by María Alché and Benjamín Naishtat is co-produced by Germany’s Pandora Film.
In the Horizontes Latinos section The Echo by Tatiana Huezo is a Mexico-Germany co-production with Germany’s Match Factory Productions.
But there are challenges in Germany which reflect shifts in the business elsewhere, Baumann pointed out.
“Public TV used to be more active in financing films. They have dropped out a lot,” she said. “It’s now harder to find the last twenty percent for filmmakers. And a part of the talent is working for platforms like Venice’s Julia von Heinz (And Tomorrow The Entire World) which means it might take longer to create their next film.”
The German box office is recovering from the pandemic but arthouse remains tough.
“After Barbie, and Oppenheimer, arthouse is back to 2019 levels but back only to maybe 60 percent,” she added. “It’s a general problem.”
Baumann said she is working to find more financing for German films which have limited money available through state and regional subsidies.
“Financing is more difficult. MGs are down. It’s much harder to find a sales agent than a couple of years ago. Filmmakers used to get a full commission from platforms, but now they just give part of the budget, so they have to find other funding. I’m negotiating to get more public funding.”
