25/09/2012 - Besides the many (co-)productions in the programme, the Russian event is dedicating three sections to German cinema

The 22nd St. Petersburg International Film Festival, Message to Man (September, 22 - 29) is featuring an impressive number of German films. Running in the feature documentary competition are the Germany/UK title Bad Weather (photo) by Giovanni Giommi and Salomé Jashi's Bakhmaro, both co-produced by Ma.Ja.De Filmproduktions-GmbH, as well as Anastasia Vinokurova's A Plumber for Every Need (Osteuropa Medien, Hanfgarn & Ufer Filmproduktion). The short films competitions, especially the experimental shorts section, include many German-financed titles.

This year, St. Petersburg dedicates an entire section to the GDR called Watching Them - The GDR in Documentaries which includes titles such as Bjørn Melhus's America sells or Jürgen Böttcher's The Wall and Laundresses.

A sidebar is also dedicated to the half-Century of the Oberhausen Manifesto, who marked the birth of New German Cinema. This section, named after the slogan of that German movement, The Old Film is Dead. We Believe in the New One. , includes nearly 30 titles, including films by Walter Krüttner, Peter Schamoni, Alexander Kluge, Herbert Vesely, Haro Senft, and Edgar Reitz.

St. Petersburg is also hosting a Night of German Short Films during which the short film selection Next Generation Short Tiger 2012 will be screened.