Editor

30th exground filmfest in Wiesbaden: November 17th - 26th 2017

200 Films from 42 Countries // 58 Premieres // Press Conference on November 9th // Registration for Accreditation Now Open // Cash & Non-Cash Prizes Valued at 22,000 €

For its jubilee edition taking place from 17 to 26 November in Wiesbaden, Germany, exground filmfest 30 is gearing up to present an exceptional program for the big screen featuring around 200 independently produced short and feature-length films from 42 countries. The curatorial team has successfully wrangled a slew of first viewings for the festival, including 21 world premieres, five international premieres, two European and 30 German premieres. Select films from the country focus on Turkey will also be shown outside the Wiesbaden city limits, namely in Darmstadt und Frankfurt am Main.  (Link to country focus press release here). In a total of six competitions, nominated films will be vying for cash and non-cash prizes worth approximately 22,000 euros.
 
In addition to the film program, festival venues Caligari FilmBühne, Murnau Filmtheater, Kulturpalast and Kulturzentrum Schlachthof will open their doors to host a rich supporting program featuring concerts, discussions and parties.
 

Program Highlights: Nicole Kidman, Vanessa Redgrave & Laibach in the DPRK

Viewers can expect a healthy dose of star power: In the American production HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES (USA 2016) by John Cameron Mitchell (HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, 2001), Nicole Kidman plays punk queen Boadicea, the proprietor of a tiny club on the outskirts of late 70s London, while latex-clad alien Elle Fanning (THE BEGUILED) has punk teen Enn crushing hard. The film, with its wild genre mash-up style, was met with great applause in Cannes and will be celebrating its German premiere in Wiesbaden.
 
Abel Ferrara returns to the exground program with his most recent work ALIVE IN FRANCE (France 2017), which follows the cult director around on tour in his adopted home of France as he presents concerts and a film retrospective featuring legendary classics BAD LIEUTENANT, THE KING OF NEW YORK and THE ADDICTION. ALIVE IN FRANCE will be celebrating its German premiere in the festival’s International section.
 
The members of the cult band Laibach, who take centre stage in the documentary LIBERATION DAY (Latvia/Norway/Slovenia 2016), are also old acquaintances from the exground program. Directors Morten Traavik and Ugis Olte accompanied the Slovenian band on a trip to North Korea, where they made music history by appearing in concert. Laibach previously featured in the festival program in a documentary film presented at the second edition of exground on screen (as it was known way back then).
 
With SEA SORROW (Great Britain 2017) Academy Award winner Vanessa Redgrave is making her directorial debut. This intensely personal work brings together her own story of displacement in World War Two with the desperate situation of today’s refugees. Redgrave is supported here by acting colleagues such as Ralph Fiennes and Emma Thompson.

Competitions at exground filmfest

In the scope of a total of six competitions, exground filmfest is awarding cash and non-cash prizes valued at 22,000 euros. Special thanks is due here to the exground Circle of Friends, which has increased the prize money for the International Short Film Competition this year to 2,000 euros. In the 16th edition of this competition, 18 films from 16 countries will be vying for the jury prize, which will be awarded on 26 November.
 
In the German Short Film Competition, which features a total of ten productions, three old favourites will be returning to exground behind the camera. Tomer Eshed is represented with his animated film OUR WONDERFUL NATURE– THE COMMON CHAMELEON, while the artist duo “Warnix macht Nix” will be competing for honours with their WHERE THE RAM STANDS. Finally, previous exground award winner Marion Pfaus will also be showing her film WOMEN ACTING LIKE DICTATORS.
 
The Wiesbaden Special – Short Film Competition will take place for the 13th time. Twelve films, shot either by directors born or residing in Wiesbaden or realised in the city itself, have been selected to participate in the competition, including a number of premieres. The winner of the competition, determined by audience voting, will be announced on 26 November.
 
In the scope of the exground youth days, seven short films directed by young talents from Wiesbaden and the surrounding area will be vying for the audience award in the Wiesbaden Youth Film Competition.
 
Also within the scope of the youth days, in the International Youth Film Competition both a youth jury and the audience will have the opportunity to honour their favourite film with an award. Seven productions will be competing for the distinction this year, including previous award winners from other festivals.
 
In the Made in Germany section, a jury composed of inmates from Wiesbaden’s JVA correctional facility will be awarding the prize DAS BRETT for the second year in a row. All in al, six productions will be competing for the inmate jury award.

The complete festival program will be available online from late October 2017 at www.exground.com. exground filmfest would like to thank all of its supporters and sponsors.