25/09/2014 - The 22nd edition of the Filmfest Hamburg is presenting eight productions that have been put forward for the Foreign-language Oscar 2015

Pride by Matthew Warchus

British comedy-drama Pride [+see also:
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making of
film profile] by Matthew Warchus is set to kick off the 22nd edition of the Filmfest Hamburg, which is presenting 110 arthouse films such as the Palme d’Or winner Winter Sleep [+see also:
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interview: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
film profile] by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Mommy by Xavier Dolan, Ida [+see also:
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interview: Pawel Pawlikowski
interview: Pawel Pawlikowski
film profile] by Pawel Pawlikowski, and Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem [+see also:
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film profile] by Shlomi and Ronit Elkabetz. Altogether, the Filmfest Hamburg will be showing eight productions that have been put forward for the Foreign-language Oscar 2015. From Croatia comes Tomislav Mršić’s Cowboys [+see also:
trailer
film profile], from Hungary White God [+see also:
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interview: Kornél Mundruczó
film profile] by Kornél Mundruczó and from Sweden Ruben Östlund’s drama Force Majeure (Turist) [+see also:
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interview: Ruben Östlund
film profile]. Another potential Oscar candidate is the closing-night film, Timbuktu [+see also:
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film profile] by Abderrahmane Sissako.

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“We are delighted if the films have a distributor in Germany, but our main focus is on movies that won’t be commercially released in this country,” underlines festival director Albert Wiederspiel. “Out of the 110 feature films we are showing, only 15 already have German distribution. Our audience appreciates this and takes the opportunity to see films at our festival which they usually wouldn’t get to see.” Greece has a strong presence in the festival line-up with four titles, including Xenia [+see also:
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interview: Panos H. Koutras
film profile] by Panos H Koutras and Miss Violence [+see also:
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interview: Alexandros Avranas
film profile] by Alexandros Avranas. “All of the films from Greece deal with the impact that the financial crisis is having on the life of individuals,” says Wiederspiel. The section that is most in demand by the audience is the “Eurovisuell” programme, which shows box-office hits from various European countries, such as the Icelandic drama Life in a Fishbowl [+see also:
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A particular highlight will be the German premiere of The Cut [+see also:
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interview: Fatih Akin
interview: Tahar Rahim
film profile] by Hamburg-based Turkish-German filmmaker Fatih Akin, whose work will be honoured with the prestigious Douglas Sirk Award – Bosnian director Emir Kusturica will come to host the proceedings. In the new “Freihafen” section,which is showing 11 European co-productions, German producers will compete for the Hamburg Producer Award, worth €25,000. The foreign partner will also win an award for the colour grading of their next film, a service provided by the post-production company Optical Art up to an amount of €15,000. “This is a very good reason for the producers to come back to Hamburg,” concludes the festival director. Meanwhile, Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof is back in the city, after not having been able to leave his home country for over eight months.