Berlin

After three successful campaigns, FACE TO FACE WITH GERMAN FILMS is going into its fourth year. The initiative by German Films, which presents German filmmaking and extraordinary talents from Germany, will focus on six actors and actresses in its fourth edition.

With Maria Dragus, Christian Friedel, Luise Heyer, Jonas Nay, Jördis Triebel and Fahri Yardim, six of the most exciting and dynamic faces are representing the German film and series industry and will take center stage in upcoming marketing and press activities at the Berlinale and through 2019.

The fourth edition of the FACE TO FACE WITH GERMAN FILMS initiative will be launched during the Berlinale at the Drama Series Days with the panel ”Breaking Boundaries: German Acting Talent on German TV’s ‘Golden Age’” in cooperation with Variety. The goal of the campaign is to showcase current trends in German filmmaking, to promote German cinema and series to international audiences and to grow the awareness of and interest in modern German storytelling.

The actors and actresses of the 2019 campaign are at the very heart of current national and international filmmaking success: Maria Dragus can be seen in MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS in theaters right now and the two-part series BRECHT, which will be screened in the Berlinale Special program; Christian Friedel, who gave a brilliant performance in Oliver Hirschbiegel’s 13 MINUTES is showing his versatility in the much lauded series BABYLON BERLIN and PERFUME; Luise Heyer can be seen in the Netflix series DARK as well as in Oscar®-winner Caroline Link’s box office hit THAT BOY NEEDS FRESH AIR. After the highly acclaimed series DEUTSCHLAND 83 was sold to more than 20 countries, Jonas Nay returned to play the conflicted hero in the second season of the hit show, which premiered on Amazon Prime in October 2018. Jördis Triebel is currently stealing the spotlight in two Netflix series: DARK and BABYLON BERLIN, while Fahri Yardim has been playing in the successful series JERKS since 2017 and is one of the two leads in Netflix’s second German language series DOGS OF BERLIN.

Mariette Rissenbeek, Managing Director, German Films commented on the 2019 ‘Faces’:
“Since the first edition of FACE TO FACE WITH GERMAN FILMS we’ve seen each year that the presentation of German film talent on the international stage has been embraced enthusiastically. In the past few years, series “Made in Germany” especially have deeply impressed international audiences and so it was a natural next step for us to put talents from current series at the heart of the new edition of the FACE TO FACE WITH GERMAN FILMS campaign. On top of that, it is actually a wonderful reunion, as we know them from acclaimed feature films as well. So we are presenting the best of both creative worlds in this international campaign!”

The initiative was launched in 2016 featuring six German actresses – among them Sandra Hüller (TONI ERDMANN), Paula Beer (FRANTZ and the Golden Globe® and Oscar®-nominated NEVER LOOK AWAY) and Liv Lisa Fries, who is starring in the acclaimed series BABYLON BERLIN.

The second edition was launched during the Festival de Cannes 2017 and featured six prolific German actors. Among them established names such as Alexander Fehling (THREE PEAKS, HOMELAND) or Tom Schilling (WOMAN IN GOLD, OH BOY, NEVER LOOK AWAY), but also new faces like Louis Hofmann (DARK and the Oscar®-nominated LAND OF MINE).

The third edition in 2018 took a look behind the camera and focused on six directors: Emily Atef, whose feature film 3 DAYS IN QUIBERON was in Competition at the Berlinale 2018; Lars Kraume, whose THE SILENT REVOLUTION (featuring one of the 2017 ‘Faces’ Ronald Zehrfeld and this year’s ‘Face’ Jördis Triebel) screened as a Berlinale Special Gala at the 2018 Berlin Film Festival; Anca Miruna Lazarescu, whose latest feature HAPPINESS SUCKS opened the 2018 Hof International Film Festival; Burhan Qurbani, whose highly-anticipated BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ is already creating a lot of buzz; and David Wnendt, whose THE SUNLIT NIGHT is premiering on 26 January 2019 at Sundance.

Photograph: © German Films/Anne Wilk/The Dream Factory