We’ve put the time during the pandemic to use and have given our website a brand-new, “responsive” design. This means that all the information about FILMFEST MUNICH is presented in a high-quality, cutting-edge look, and the design adjusts itself flexibly and smoothly to the particular device you’re viewing it on. I’d like to invite you to take a little time to enjoy browsing this new website. Here you can get to know the film festival, its history and approach, and our shareholders and partners as well as our team.

In the second week of June, we’ll announce the line-up of films we’ll be screening at this year’s edition of the festival. At that time, all the information about the films and directors, the screening venues and dates, as well as the ability to book tickets in advance, will also be available on this website.

Kino am Olympiasee has a brandnew LED-screen.

This year is another extraordinary one, of course, because of the pandemic, which is hopefully starting to fade away. We’ve made a virtue of necessity and are taking the films outdoors, to big open-air screens. That means we’ll be seeing you mostly evenings and nights this summer, thanks in part to the many partners who’ve joined us in making it possible to hold a film festival in the open air. In addition, there’ll be great afternoon screenings in the cinemas and at the open-air Kinderfilmfest, which will be held at child-friendly times during the day since we’ll be able to show the films on LED screens!

10 DAYS

70 FILMS

15 LOCATIONS

This year’s program

Half of this year’s program is dedicated to the latest highlights of German film as well as to the filmmakers — our “local heroes” — some of whom will be attending the world premieres of their films in order to present them to you in person. The other half consists of our international program with current highlights of world cinema. We hope to be able to welcome film personalities from abroad to Munich as well, but this remains uncertain due to the pandemic. Nevertheless, every film will be presented on an open-air stage by our program team, who’ve really spared no effort to put together this fabulous line-up. In addition, some of the filmmakers will be joining us in video calls to talk about their work; we’ll show you those interviews as a lead-in to the films and here on this website.

Once again, members of the industry are cordially invited to do their networking at FILMFEST MÜNCHEN. The “Beergarden Convention”, which we’ll be holding each day of the festival at the Hofbräukeller on Wiener Platz in cooperation with our sponsor Hofbräu, is a place for making new professional acquaintances and planning new film projects: in person, naturally in compliance with hygiene regulations.

culture during the pandemic

Our program this year has been scaled back due to the pandemic, though we’d also say it’s more focused! With more than 60 films to watch in the first ten days of July, you, the viewer, will still be spoiled for choice, and I promise you that you will always have an exciting cinema experience.

To manage a festival while working from home, with a reduced budget, largely on our own, is simply a tremendous achievement, for which I am very grateful to my team.

Watching a specially selected film on the big screen, with others, in the open air, will just be fantastic. Who’d have thought that the moviegoing experience might one day be something we’d rediscover, looking at it perhaps in a completely fresh way and hopefully with even more appreciation for the important social purpose that cinema fulfills?

During the pandemic, we’ve realized again and again that the pivotal role played by arts and culture in society and in the lives of individuals is often greatly undervalued. Institutions and, above all, individual artists have unfortunately often had to shoulder the additional burden that the arts sector has had to face, which has by no means been easy. Why this is so, why the importance of arts and culture is often not properly acknowledged, and how this can be changed moving forward are things that can hopefully also be discussed within the framework of our festival.

At the same time, we’re incredibly proud that despite the adverse conditions, we’re able to present, with great effort, such a diverse program that includes German world premieres as well as international films!

A BIG THANK-YOU

We’re very pleased about the solidarity we have experienced among Munich’s cultural institutions in recent weeks and months. We’ve also been fortunate to gain some new partners and new venues, particularly for this year’s open-air edition, with whom we’ve formed forward-looking alliances. So let’s share arts and culture!

I’d also like to thank our shareholders, our long-standing and new partners, and the sponsors of FILMFEST MÜNCHEN who continue to give us their active support even during the pandemic.

Now all that remains is for you, the audience, to come and take advantage of all that we’re offering. So here’s a little call to action: get away from your screen at home and get to an outdoor movie theater for the shared experience of cinema! I assume that during the summer, you’ll be out and about a lot anyway — so why not round off a beautiful summer’s day with a special moviegoing experience? We look forward to seeing you — and so do the filmmakers.

Let’s kick off this Summer of Arts and Culture with a great festival of cinema!