First off, we must sincerely thank our entire audience. It was you who made the 39th edition of FILMFEST MÜNCHEN a tremendous success by attending it in such numbers! We’re delighted that no fewer than 50,000 people went to the movies, talked to the filmmakers, and shared their impressions with us. The Filmfest is a festival for the public, and it simply cannot exist without you!

We’ve already talked about the award-winners in detail in our Saturday evening blog post. But on that subject, we’d like to highlight the two Audience Award winners, KISS MY WOUNDS by Hanna Doose in the New German Cinema section and THE ROBBER HOTZENPLOTZ by Michael Krummenacher at the Kinderfilmfest, which thrilled their viewers (young and old), thus deserving the festival’s “most honest” award.

all the winners of saturday evening: Claudia Müller, Hanna Doose, Mira Fornay and Moritz Peters (Koch Films)who accepted the arri Award in Hirokazu Kore-eda's name.

In addition to ticketed moviegoers, some 10,000 people attended our supporting events. Of particular note were our numerous panel discussions, held under the banner of FILMMAKERS LIVE!, in which we and you were able to explore the subject matter in greater depth with people from a variety of filmmaking professions. The talks were free of charge, are all online in a separate playlist on our YouTube channel, and will of course remain available to you after the Filmfest. Take a look or have a listen: it’s worth it!

We’d like to give a further mention to the event München ’72 – Eine Stadt zwischen Traum und Trauma, which is being held this evening starting at 9:15 pm at the Kino am Olympiasee. Our curator Julia Weigl and Andreas Bönte from Bayerischer Rundfunk will guide you through the evening, welcoming such interviewees as cultural studies expert Dr. Simone Egger and 1972 Olympic javelin champion Klaus Wolfermann. The evening will conclude with the world premiere of OLYMPIA ’72, a new documentary film on the Munich Games produced by Bayerischer Rundfunk and Arte by award-winning director Louis Saul, who will be among those attending. Also being screened are the documentary shorts MÜNCHEN WIRD MODERN by Despina Grammatikopulu and OLYMPIA-ATTENTAT 1972 by Birgit Rätsch, which take a closer look at the major aspects of the 1972 Munich Olympics. Admission begins at 7:00 pm. Tickets are free and may be booked on the website of Kino am Olympiasee.