09/11/2012 - For its 61st edition, Germany's second oldest film festival after Berlin continues to seek out new talent

Even if the 61st edition of the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival (November 8-18) opened with a Patagonian tale titled Tiempos menos modernos (lit. "less modern times"), Germany's second oldest film festival after Berlin, which notably screened the feature debuts of Truffaut, Fassbinder, Wim Wenders, Jarmush, Lars von Trier, and Vinterberg, has not yet renounced to its mission of scouting out new talent. This mission was even honoured last year, when the festival's director Michael Kötz received an Honorary Ecumenical Award from Interfilm and SIGNIS for being a "patron saint of independent cinema".

Ten European co-productions stand out among the 19 features competing in the international competitionfor its first prize, the Award for Best Newcomer of the Year. They are Filip Marczewski's Shameless [+see also:
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interview: Filip Marczewski
film profile] and Tomasz Wasilewski's In a Bedroom [+see also:
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film profile] from Poland, Kadija Leclere's Le Sac de farine [+see also:
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film profile] (Belgium/France), Threes Anna's Silent City [+see also:
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film profile] (Netherlands/Luxembourg/Belgium), Jens Sjögren's Good Luck. Take Care of Each Other [+see also:
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film profile] (Sweden), Bonifacio Angius's Sa Grascia (Italy), Toomas Hussar's Mushrooming (Estonia), and Frances Lea's Strawberry Fields [+see also:
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film profile] (United Kingdom), as well as the following co-productions: David Riker's La niña (United Kingdom/Mexico/United States) and Jason Cortlund and Julia Halperin's Now, Forager [+see also:
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film profile] (United States/Poland).

The International Discoveries section is to offer nine gems by directors to watch from all over the world, including the following European titles: French director Christine François's Le Secret de l'enfant fourmi (lit. "The secret of the ant child"), Madrid-born director Miguel Ángel Jiménez Colmenar's Chaika [+see also:
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film profile] (Spain/Georgia/Russia/France), and Chilean director Fernando Guzzoni's Carne de perro (lit. "Dog's meat" - France/Germany/Chile). Seven titles in the Special Screenings section answer the question "How should we live?" Among them are Alexandre Sokurov's Faust, Nanni Moretti's We Have a Pope [+see also:
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interview: Nanni Moretti
film profile], German filmmaker Florian Opitz's Speed: In Search of Lost Time, and Xavier Beauvois's Of Gods and Men [+see also:
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interview: Xavier Beauvois
film profile].

Beyond a significant presence of Polish films in competition, this year the festival is to give homage to Krzysztof Kieslowski who was also "discovered" in 1975 at the festival. The latter is to screen five of the master's films: the "Three Colours" trilogy, as well as Blind Chance (1981) and A Short Film About Love (1988). The children's section includes six films, all from Northern Europe.

(Translated from French)