How Filmfest Hamburg is showcasing emerging filmmakers from Germany and around the world

Philippe Falardeau’s Lovely Day and Hikari’s Rental Family, the opening and closing night films of Filmfest Hamburg on September 25 and October 4 respectively, perfectly represent the values of this year’s festival, according to festival director Malika Rabahallah and director of programming Kathrin Kohlstedde.

“Lovely Day reminds us one shouldn’t forget humour in the cinema and we have the theme of togetherness with our closing film Rental Family,” says Kohlstedde.

Rabahallah and Kohlstedde have worked closely to put together their second edition, showcasing 118 films from 55 countries, including five world premieres.

This year’s Industry Days, running from September 29- October 2, has been expanded to provide a home for European Work in Progress (EWIP) and the International Film Distribution Summit (IFDS) to run alongside the Explorer Conference and numerous industry panels and networking events.

Rabahallah and Kohlstedde talk to Screen about this year’s festival programme and placing a greater focus on the industry.

Who are the fresh voices for whom Filmfest audiences should look out this year?

KK: US independent cinema was somewhat in the shadows in recent years, but we have two really strong debuts screening at the Filmfest this year: Kate Beecroft, who is like a Chloé Zhao 2.0, will be here with East Of Wall - The New West. Then there’s Eva Victor with Sorry, Baby.

We also have some remarkable debuts by German filmmakers such as Steffen Goldcamp [Rain Fell On The Nothing New], Hille Norden [Smalltown Girl)] and Marlene Bischof and Nicolai Zeitler [I Am The Greatest]. A new generation is emerging that has a very individual film language and the courage and confidence to tell stories in a different way.

MR: There are also German producers who are involved in projects by first-time directors outside Germany such as Suzannah Mirghani’s Cotton Queen, the first feature film by a woman filmmaker from Sudan.

Which international filmmakers are you particularly looking forward to welcoming in Hamburg?

MR: We are especially pleased to have Julia Ducournau and Kleber Mendonça Filho for this year’s ‘Filmmaker in Focus’ because we feel that they both have an idiosyncratic approach to their work and are in some ways very political.

And we have introduced a new format called Deep Dive because we believe film is teamwork and so we want to celebrate the various film professions. The Oscar-winning sound designer Sylvain Bellemore will give a masterclass.

Additionally, we invited the Dardennes brothers’ Jeune Mères and they [were free to] come to Hamburg and receive this year’s Douglas Sirk award. Their films are very close to my heart and show what cinema is capable of as it casts a spotlight on the forgotten in our society. 

How are you consolidating Filmfest Hamburg’s position as a key industry event?

MR: We already had an industry format for producers with the Explorer Konferenz, but both Kathrin and I see the industry as a whole and so were very pleased when the organisers of the European Works In Progress and the International Film Distribution Summit said they would like to bring their events to Hamburg.

KK: There’s also a change this year to the #Atelier cooperation between the Filmfest and Cannes’ Critics’ Week as the participants for this programme will now be drawn from the nominees for the First Steps Award being presented in Berlin on October 6.

These young German-speaking talents will come to Hamburg for three days to meet Cannes selector Olivier Pélisson and the first-time filmmakers Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke and Alice Douard whose films A Useful Ghost and Love Letters are being shown at the Filmfest, as well as to attend some of the Industry Days panels and networking events.