After an initial five-year term, Simone Baumann was recently reconfirmed as Managing Director of the promotional agency German Films. Ahead of the start of the 2024 Berlinale, she took the time to answer a couple of questions.
The Film Verdict: You became Managing Director of German Films in 2019, right before the pandemic. What was it like to adjust to the health crisis and its impact on moviegoing on relatively short notice?
Simone Baumann: I started at Berlinale 2019 – so I had one year to get into the job and to understand more about the theatrical market for arthouse films and the role of festivals in promotion. The pandemic was a hard time – nobody had gone through anything like this before. So, we had to reinvent ourselves with online promotion, more show reels, etc. At the same time Covid was accelerating, a development that was already on the way. So, we tried to use the time to update our activities to future market conditions.
TFV: The Teachers’ Lounge, which premiered at last year’s Berlinale, traveled around the world and made it all the way to the Oscars. Which 2024 films do you think could achieve similar international success?
Baumann: This is very difficult to foresee. Last year we had four majority-German films in the Berlinale competition – but The Teachers’ Lounge was in Panorama. This year we have 3 films on competition, 2 in Encounters and more in Berlinale Special and Panorama. The film must hit the nerve of the times. More films will come up at other festivals. So, we have something to offer and something to choose for the next Oscar run.
TFV: There was some displeasure in the German filmmaking community when the Berlinale discontinued the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section. Do you think the festival needs a German-centric sidebar?
Baumann: Personally, I don’t think so. Perspektive Deutsches Kino was good to put a spotlight on young and upcoming filmmakers. On the other hand, it was not so easy to get international attention for this section, since Berlinale has so many programs and films. It is hard to get the films reviewed or to get other festival programmers to these screenings. This year we have 35 majority-German films in the official Berlinale line-up – without Perspektive. This is a record number of films and I know that the whole Berlinale team was working on that. We will see how the films will be received – but I am very optimistic that this will be a successful Berlinale, also for a young generation of German filmmakers.
