Sofia International Film Festival

Gabrielle BrunnenmeyerHaving worked as a journalist and film critic, Gabriele Brunnenmeyer was in charge of the MEDIA Antenna Berlin-Brandenburg, acting as an artistic adviser for MEDIA training initiative Moonstone International in regard to Eastern and Central Europe and organising workshops for directors and screenwriters in Germany. Her main activity in the last 10 years was the development of the East-West-Coproduction Market Connecting Cottbus at the Cottbus Film Festival which she was running as Artistic Director until the end of last year. Furthermore she is still working for the Kuratorium Junger Deutscher Film, a funding body for first and second films by German Young Talents, here she is acting as a project and dramatically advisor. She was a member of the jury for the International Competition for first and second films.  

Did you have initial understanding with the other members of the jury about your common criteria based on which you would evaluate the films?

We were very fine tuned as a jury. We had young directors in the jury – two of them with one movie behind them and one – with some more, and Fridrik and me being elder, and with my different experience in the East-West-Coproduction Market Connecting Cottbus. At the beginning we decided to just go with our feelings for the cinema, to be open to discover something new. We were not looking for something particular and what we had in common was that we all love the cinema. We had only one big discussion during which we talked about everything. Off course we talked to each other in the meantime, but we decided, and I personally believe in this, that you should wait until you see it all. Some of us would take notes after a screening for themselves. And in the end it was a very good session, everybody was completely in it.

You can read the whole interview on our festival's site www.siff.bg

14 March 2011