Editor

The MUNICH INTERNATIONAL short film festival is taking place at the tradition-steeped Gloria Palast in the heart of the Bavarian capitol from Thursday June 12th, through Wednesday June 18th, 2008. With a full load of short films, it is a perfect way to tune-in to the "big" Munich Filmfest, which will follow on June 20th. 40 films from 17 countries are competing for the audience's favorite and the festival's prize – film stock for the next project of the winning director, which is kindly contributed by Kodak. All of these films in the International Competition are Bavarian premieres, which have been chosen out of more than 1,200 submissions. Most have already won national and international awards. To include six Oscar-nominees, eight nominees for the European Short Film Award, and the winner of that competition: LIGHTBORNE. Another festival highlight is A GOOD DAY FOR A SWIM, awarded the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2008. The International Competition is divided up into five programs assigned to the five basic taste sensations:

The program SWEET, launching the festival on Thursday at 7 p.m., comprises seven films about love, partners, and zest for life. The animated film THE SAD STRORY OF KNAVE playfully tells a story about an adulteress’ fraud just as THE DINNER, an award-winning sweet comedy, alludes to the excitement of the first date. TANGHI ARGENTINI explains how hard a man can fight for a woman’s grace – and what he really is achieving by his efforts.

The program SALTY, combines salt on our skin, like in ONE DAY TRIP or LOOK SHARP, a declared piece of art, with the politically "salted", which addresses contemporary issues such as immigration and racism in the U.S., terrorism in Spain, and smuggling in the Congo.

BITTER is quite an imposition to the audience, showing a selection of films without happy endings. These films tell stories about desperate metaphysical adventures of tragic protagonists, loss of self-confidence, and belief in their future.

SOUR showcases demanding films, but without lacking hope. This program brings together stories about crime and other danger with philosophical considerations about life and death.

UMAMI, last but not least, is a scientifically acknowledged taste sensation, but hasn’t come to public awareness (yet). Hence, this program gathers together unknown, unfamiliar, and extreme territory that gives strong impressions – just as glutamate does, the epitome of umami – for example WE HAVE DECIDED NOT TO DIE, a trilogy of extraordinary pictures about resurgence and resistance to nature, and films describing tough fights for power like TAUA, or an unknown OBJECT.

All films will be screened in their original English language, or with English subtitles. In addition to the International Competition, the festival showcases films awarded the German Short Film Prize and the "Short Tiger", as well as films by members and friends of the Munich Filmwerkstatt within the programs GIRLFRIENDS and BOYFRIENDS. More information on all the individual films, and the complete screening program can be found at the festival website http://www.muc-intl.de

The festival is staged by the Munich Filmwerkstatt, which is an association of young directors, producers, and other members of the filmmaking community who support each other's films and careers, and CommClub Munich. Under the motto "collecting knowledge and strengthening personal networking", CommClub Munich is dedicated to the media industry in Munich, and to bringing people from various branches together by offering a wide range of events and meetings focusing on information, networking, and fun. The festival takes place in cooperation with Mathäser, and is presented by Abendzeitung. Global transportation of the screening prints is provided by Interkep.