08/10/2015 - The oldest foreign festival organized by German Films, the one that takes place in Paris, is celebrating its 20th anniversary

From 7 to 13 October, the oldest foreign festival organized by German Films, the one that takes place in Paris and has now become an institution (with 5,500 admissions last year), is celebrating its 20th edition at the Arlequin Cinema. The 20th German Films Festival in Pariswill welcome 14 leading figures of German cinema to present a varied programme of 22 films and several appealing special events – all accompanied for the second time by a VoD version of the festival, in collaboration with Universciné.

The opening screening is that of Oliver Hirschbiegel's 13 Minutes [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], a production uniting Lucky Bird Pictures, Delphi Medien, Philipp Filmproduction about Nazi resistance fighter Georg Elser which will be released soon after in France (the date set by Sophie Dulac Distribution is the 21st of this month). The other new films in competition (most of which are to be accompanied by their makers) are Andreas Dresen's Berlinale title As We Were Dreaming [+see also:
film review
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Q&A: Andreas Dresen
film profile] (produced by Rommel Film and Iskremas Filmproduktion in Germany), Christoph Hochhäusler's pharmaceutical thriller The Lies of The Victors [+see also:
trailer
interview: Christoph Hochhäusler
film profile] (Heimatfilm; to be released in France by Bodega Films on 18 November), which will be screened in the director's presence, Baran bo Odar's Who Am I – No System is Safe [+see also:
trailer
interview: Baran bo Odar
film profile] (Wiedemann & Berg Filmproduktion GmbH & Co. KG, Seven Pictures Film, Deutsche Columbia Pictures Filmproduktion), Burhan Qurbani's celebrated We Are Young, We Are Strong [+see also:
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film profile] (UFA Cinema), Mark Monheim's About a Girl [+see also:
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film profile] (Imbissfilm), festival guest Marc Brummund's Sanctuary [+see also:
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interview: Louis Hofmann
film profile] (Zum Goldenen Lamm Filmproduktion), about the fate of German state wards in 1968, Tom Sommerlatte's Summers Downstairs [+see also:
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film profile] (Osiris Media in Germany), Neele Leana Vollmar's The Pasta Detectives (Lieblingsfilm), festival guest Douglas Wolfsperger's Brundibar Revisited (Douglas-Wolfsperger Filmproduktion), staging a children musical play initially written and staged in a concentration camp, and Katja von Garnier's Scorpions – Forever and a Day (Tempest Film), on the famous rock band. 

The actor Alexander Fehling, whose latest performance, in German candidate for the Oscars Labyrinth of Lies [+see also:
film review
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making of
interview: Giulio Ricciarelli
interview: Giulio Ricciarelli
film profile], scored over 330,000 admissions in Germany, will attend the Paris event as a special guest. The festival is dedicating a focus to him consisting of three of his films. The Goethe Institute's special program this year is called "Acteurs & Actrices" and will cast a spotlight on actors Denis Lavant, Adolf Wohlbrück and Sandra Hüller. The programme also includes the traditional short film selection Next Generation Short Tiger 2015.

The festival also adds a new venue to its historical location near Saint-Germain des Prés. With seating for more than 2,000 people, the new Philharmonia is providing ample space, but also a festive setting, for performances like that of the silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari by Robert Wiene, in cooperation with Bertelsmann, with musical accompaniment provided by the Orchestre National d’Île de France, conducted by Timothy Brock.