Finding one's own means of expression, remaining true to oneself, putting up resistance: these are qualities that the four uncompromising guests of honor at the 36th FILMFEST MÜNCHEN — Emma Thompson, Terry Gilliam, Lucrecia Martel, and Philip Gröning — have in common along with numerous other international guests, including Jia Zhang-Ke, Jennifer Fox, Margarethe von Trotta, and Alice Rohrwacher, who personally brought their films to Munich. Ten exhilarating, film-filled days have passed in which thousands of people have watched, talked, danced, and debated controversial subjects. It wasn't just the 220 films that thrilled the roughly 80,000 people who attended the festival, but also the diverse Filmmakers Live! discussions that were streamed live across the Internet this year for the first time, including discussions on the future of the German film and series markets and talks with international guests. This is an innovation that audiences and the Internet community eagerly made use of. The live streams of the Filmmakers Live! panel discussions reached a total of about 73,000 viewers via the FILMFEST MÜNCHEN fan page on Facebook. Daily reports broadcast by our new partner, TELE 5, reached between 100,000 and 200,000 viewers. FILMFEST MÜNCHEN is also of growing importance to the film industry: this year, about 10 percent more industry events were held than last year.
Lots of discussions revolved around finding one's own personal means of expression and leaving one's own mark on a film, even if this sometimes means telling a story in an awkward and recalcitrant way. Time is also an important topic of discussion and a theme in lots of films at FILMFEST MÜNCHEN: the time it takes for a work to be completed, for a character to develop, for a plot to unwind on screen. The time an audience takes to explore the other worlds that are presented to it. For ten days, the festival once again made that possible for its audiences.
Looking toward the future, as it's put in the preface to this year's Filmfest magazine, things appear hopeful and innovative, not just with regard to new projects and trends in the market, but also with regard to the festival itself. The budget increase of three million euros that's been announced is one more reason for FILMFEST MÜNCHEN to look toward the future with new ideas and eyes wide open — or as festival director Diana Iljine puts it:
"I'm happy that in the past ten days we've again been able to bring excellent films, wonderful people, new ideas, and certainly even glamor to the city. Once again, FILMFEST MÜNCHEN was a great success. And just as films are always a team project, a festival can be put together only by lots of people working together. It's the accomplishment of a team, and I thank all of our staff for their hard work and commitment! What they say about soccer also applies here: After the festival is before the festival. Having the chance to further develop FILMFEST MÜNCHEN and reposition it in the coming years is a challenge that we gladly accept and that my team and I are very much looking forward to."