Mahdi Fleifel’s To A Land Unknown, Gábor Reisz’s Explanation for Everything, Federico Luis’ Simon Of The Mountain and Minh Quý Trương’s Viet And Nam, were the winners of the four main competitive strands of this year’s Munich International Film Festival (MIFF) which closed on Saturday July 6.
The festival’s biggest award, the €100,000 CineCoPro award, provided by FFF Bayern to be invested in a future co-production, was presented to François Morisset’s company Salaud Morisset, the German co-producer of To A Land Unknown.
The first narrative feature by Palestinian filmmaker Fleifel is a refugee drama about two Palestinians stranded in Athens. It made its world premiere in Directors’ Fortnight in May and is being handled internationally by Salaud Morisset.
The three-member CineCoPro jury of writer-director Baran bo Odar, actress Leonie Benesch and producer Sol Bondy gave a special mention to Mo Harawe’s Somalia-set dramaThe Village Next To Paradise and the film’s German co-producer, Nicole Gerhards of NiKo Film
The €50,000 ARRI award for the best international film in the CineMasters competition was awarded to the Hungarian producer Júlia Berkes of Proton Cinema for Reisz’s Explanation For Everything. The film about a teenager who exposes Hungary’s political divisions when he wears a national pin to school, premiered at Venice in 2023.
The €15,000 CineVision award for best international newcomer was presented to Argentinian director Luis for his debut feature Simon Of The Mountain. The film won the Critics’ Week prize at Cannes in May for its portrayal of adolescence and disability.
Meanwhile, the winner of the €15,000 cash prize for best innovative international film in the CineRebels competition went to Minh Quý Trương’s Vietnamese-Filipino romantic drama Viet And Nam, about two gay miners in Vietnam’s central highlands, which premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard. A special mention was given to Maria Stoianova’s Fragments of Ice.
The €2,500 CineKindl Award was presented for the third year to the best film in the festival’s renamed CineKindl section, previously known as the Kinderfilmfest, and went to Norway’s Eirik Sæter Stordahl for his debut feature Lars Is LOL. The new young jury award was presented to Luna Carmoon’s Hoard, with a special mention to Clara Stella Hüneke’s Sisterqueens.
The fetstival’s anticipated audience awards were presented to Joachim A. Lang’s Führer And Seducer in the national category and to Yasemin Şamdereli’s Samia in the international category. to Sean Wang’s Didi won the CineKindl audience award
Other awards presented earlier in the festival week included the Fritz Gerlich prize to Zar Amir and Guy Nattiv’s Tatami and the One Future prize to Doris Metz’s documentary Petra Kelly - Act Now!
Festival conversations
MIFF recorded 71,000 admissions to around 500 screenings and events during the festival week - up from 58,000 in 2023. In addition, the number of industry professionals accredited jumped year-on-year by 30% to 2,600.
“We were overwhelmed by the fact 5,000 children came to the Young Night organised in cooperation with Museum Brandhorst as part of our new CineYou hands-on initiative,” said MIFF’s festival director Christoph Gröner, of one of the higlights of his first edition, run with co-artistic director Julia Weigl.
The festival organised a social programme of cocktail and happy hours as part of its Beergarden Convention and traditional rafting expedition on the River Isar, as well as networking opportunities offered by receptions hosted by companies such as Netflix, ZDF, Amazon, arte, Bavaria Film and FFF Bayern, which threw its traditional party in Cafe Reitschule on the edge of the English Garden.
The fact that the UEFA European Football Championship was being held at the same time in Germany may have prompted some festivalgoers to forgo some screenings and the awards ceremony. The German Cinema New Talent Awards on July 5 was pushed back to 2100 so that guests could watch the Germany-Spain quarterfinal to the very end.
The chatter over steins of beer and white sausage inevitably centred on issues as diverse as the future of the Berlinale under the new festival director Tricia Tuttle, Bavaria Film CEO Christian Franckenstein’s ambitious plans for expansion of the studio lot, and activities at the new Penzing Studios west of Munich. The latter has recently hosted the second series of Hulu’s Nine Perfect Strangers, starring Nicole Kidman, and will be handling the shoots of Sylvester Stallone’s Cliffhanger 2 and the fourth in the Vin Diesel Riddick franchise later this year.
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