Editor

The IFFMH announces first details about the programme and the realisation of the festival‘s 69th edition: The audience can look forward to new sections and formats.
For one week a physical festival with a concentrated programme will take place in the cinemas of Mannheim and Heidelberg. This year, the debut features in the endowed competition ON THE RISE will be even more in the spotlight in order to support young filmmakers. Furthermore, the IFFMH will be offering a representative selection of the programme digitally over the last four days. This online extension enables viewers to catch up on films they missed due to reduced cinema capacities or travel restrictions. For the first time, representatives of the press and the industry will have access to the films via our partner platform Festivalscope for the entire duration of the IFFMH.

Due to the travel restrictions and distance regulations, the festival experience will change. The encounter between filmmakers and audience will partly shift to digital spaces. The works will celebrate their premiere in the cinemas and will then be available online for a limited period of time for a fee.
"By limiting the time during which the films are available, setting a maximum number of tickets and the usage of geoblocking, we ensure that the films‘ chain of exploitation is not interrupted – thus expressing our solidarity with the filmmakers and other festivals. At the same time, we are able to offer the audience an expanded range of films," explains festival director Dr. Sascha Keilholz.

The decentralized concept at eight different venues in both cities and significantly increased time intervals between screenings facilitate the implementation of distance and hygiene rules.

The newly created RETROSPECTIVE will be one highlight of the programme. While many television stations, cinemas and streaming services are increasingly restricting their offer regarding film history, the historical section is intended to counteract this. Director Sascha Keilholz and curator Hannes Brühwiler consider this a special responsibility of the festival. "We need film history, just like history in general, in order to understand and to interpret the present. These films are exhilarating and inspiring works created for the big screen," says Keilholz. With LE DEUXIÈME SOUFFLE, Brühwiler and Keilholz focus on the second generation of the Nouvelle Vague and their contemporaries. Some of the films will be shown on 35 millimeter copies or in digitally restored versions. "In addition to established names such as Maurice Pialat, Jean Eustache and Philippe Garrel, there will be numerous surprises, new and rediscovered films," promises Brühwiler.

Another new venture is the  CUTTING EDGE TALENT CAMP under the leadership of Zsuzsi Bánkuti. Here the next generation of promising filmmakers comes in Mannheim together with international experts of the industry. Exploitation strategies for current projects will be discussed and sustainable production approaches will be presented for future projects.

"Over the past weeks and months, we have been engaged in an intensive exchange of ideas in regional, national and international associations, with our sponsors and above all with the filmmakers, producers, distributors and viewers. We are convinced that we have found the best solution for everyone with the current offer," explains Keilholz.