Hamburg film industry meets for tea time

Dr Carsten Brosda, Senator for Culture and Media: "70 years of film festivals in Berlin, 40 years of film funding in Hamburg - in this anniversary year, film from the North is once again strongly represented at the Berlinale. In order to strengthen the film location, its talents and young talent in the long term, we are continuing to expand film funding. With numerous socio-politically relevant productions, North German filmmakers are showing the power of cinema on the big screen and bringing diversity to people's minds. At this Berlinale, our thoughts are particularly with Mohammad Rasoulof from Hamburg, whose film 'There is no evil' is screening in the competition and who is currently not allowed to leave his home country of Iran."

Helge Albers, CEO of Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein: "We travelled to the 70th Berlinale this year with 18 supported films in our luggage - that's something to be proud of! We are particularly pleased about the competition film 'There is no evil' by Mohammad Rasoulof, who is currently not allowed to leave his home country of Iran because of his regime-critical films. In the newcomer section, we are thrilled with First Steps winner Faraz Shariat and his film 'Futur Drei', which is celebrating its world premiere in the Berlinale Panorama."

The annual reception, hosted by the Hamburg Senate and Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, honours films in and from Hamburg at the Berlinale and makes them visible on the international stage. It offers the Film Fund and Hamburg's film institutions the opportunity to enter into dialogue with national guests and international partners.

Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig Holstein is represented at the Berlinale 2020 with 18 funded projects. In competition this year is Iranian Director Mohammad Rasoulof withThere is no evil (Cosmopol Film, Hamburg). In four episodes, Rasoulof poses the question of the extent to which people in an authoritarian regime are responsible for their own actions, regardless of what they do to others. Rasoulof has lived in Hamburg since 2012, but has not been allowed to leave Iran since September 2017.

Johannes Naber's feature filmCurveball (Bon Voyage Films, Hamburg) is screening at the Berlinale as a special gala premiere. The film tells the true story of a BND bioweapons expert (played by Sebastian Blomberg) who, due to an internal mistake, provided arguments for the 2003 Iraq war. The film was shot in Elmshorn and Itzehoe in Schleswig-Holstein, among other places.

The First Steps winning filmFuture three (La Mosca Bianca Films, Hamburg) by Faraz Shariat celebrates its world premiere in the Berlinale Panorama and takes us into the world of Parvis, whose life revolves around pop culture, queer dating and raves. In his feature film debut Sleep (Junafilm, Hamburg) by Hamburg Media School graduate Michael Venus stars Sandra Hüller and Gro Swantje Kohlhof. The arthouse horror film from Germany will be screened in the "Perspektive Deutsches Kino" section. In the same section, filmmaker Natalija Yefimkina's DocumentaryGarage people (Tamtam Film, Hamburg) behind the rusty gates of Russian garages. Rojda, a soldier in the German army and a native of Kurdistan, reports for duty in Daphne Charizani's dramaIn the fire (Pallas Film, Halle) for a mission in Iraq to train female Kurdish soldiers who are fighting against the IS. In the Berlinale Shorts section, the film Inflorescence by HFBK graduate Nicolaas Schmidt.

In its own market series "LOLA@Berlinale", the Berlinale, in cooperation with the German Film Academy and German Films, will present the films pre-selected for the German Film Awards 2020 to an international audience of industry professionals. A total of twelve FFHSH-funded productions will be screened in the section this year:7500 by Patrick Vollrath,German lesson by Christian Schwochow,I Was, I Am, I Will Be by Ilker Çatak,Gipsy Queen by Hüseyin Tabak,Well against the north wind by Vanessa Jopp,Lindenberg! Do your thing by Hermine Huntgeburth,Pelican blood by Katrin Gebbe, Nora Fingscheidt withSystem sprinkler,Cunningham by Alla Kovgan,The Heinzels - Return of the brownies by Ute von Münchow-Pohl andOstwind - Ari's arrival by Theresa von Eltz.

Image material Photos from the Berlinale Tea Time can be downloaded here.

Credits: FFHSH/Jasper Ehrich/Florian Arp

Sponsors: Thanks to interior designer Desiree Peton, the first floor of the State Representation was transformed into a British tea lounge - with furniture from the Axis Mundi Hamburg collection. A special highlight for the guests was the tea bar from Hamburg-based company SAMOVA