Other Films and Events Accessible to Non-German Viewers
As usual, the opening ceremony at Edimotion on Friday 24 October, 20:00, will focus on our Lifetime Achievement Award, which in 2025 goes to editor Patricia Rommel. The featured film, Beyond Silence (1996), was directed by Caroline Link, who will hold a laudation before the screening. This event is in German, but we will provide translation of the speeches via headset – and importantly, the film has English subtitles. Location: Filmforum Cinema in the Museum Ludwig.
In celebration of Edimotion's 25th anniversary, there will be a reception with food and drinks before the opening ceremony beginns, starting at 19:00. This is sponsored by TEMPO – Federation of Film Editors Associations. The location is the same.
As for the rest of the festival: The main English language events are the Guest Country Evening, the International Panel, the International Film Editors Forum (IFEF) and the Academy Workshops. But there are some other events and films that are accessible to non-German viewers (with a few caveats). In our editing competitions, any film in spoken German will have English subtitles, but any film not in German will have German subtitles. This year there is also a documentary (Riverboom) mostly in French with some English, as well as a fiction film (Reinas) completely in Spanish. So some visitors may have the language skills to watch these films without needing subtitles. Finally, one of the panels of our main topic this year – "Editing Hybrid Formats" –, is also in English, and it complements the topic of this year's International Panel. All the details are below, and there is also a Calendar with a timeline of these events.
© Buena Vista InternationalBEYOND SILENCE ("Jenseits der Stille")
Opening Ceremony, Lifetime Achievement Award
Friday 24 October at 20:00 – Filmforum Cinema
DE 1996, 112 min., German with English subtitles
DE 1996, 112 min., German with English subtitles
Since childhood, Lara has lived in a world between two languages: sign language, which she uses to communicate with her deaf parents, and spoken language, which her aunt introduces her to when she teaches Lara to play the clarinet. Music becomes a gateway to a new world for Lara—and a source of tension between her and her parents, who cannot understand what fascinates her so much about music. When Lara wants to begin studying music in Berlin, the conflict comes to a head.
The film received several German Film Awards, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Editor: Patricia Rommel. Director: Caroline Link. Screenplay: Caroline Link, Beth Serlin. Cinematography: Frank Griebe. Music: Niki Reiser. Production: MTM Medien & Television München, Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, SDR, ZDF. Cast: Sylvie Testud, Tatjana Trieb, Howie Seago, Emmanuelle Laborit, Sibylle Canonica, Matthias Habich. Distributor: Buena Vista International.
Note: The film talk after the screening will be in German, with translation available via headset.
© Sylvia SteinhäuserPatricia Rommel
Recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award
With a filmography of over 50 works, Patricia Rommel is one of the most influential film editors in German and international cinema. Collaborations with directors such as Caroline Link, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Stefan Tolz, Wolfgang Becker, Romuald Karmakar, Asli Özge, and Angelina Jolie demonstrate Patricia Rommel's versatility and her formative artistic significance over the past decades. The numerous awards for her films include the Oscars for Nowhere in Africa and The Lives of Others; the German Film Award winners such as A Year Ago in Winter; and Gloria, which received the Mexican film award Premio Artel.
Particularly impressive is her long-standing collaboration with director Caroline Link. Their first joint film, Beyond Silence, was followed by many successful projects, including Nowhere in Africa, Annaluise & Anton, and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. Patricia Rommel also enjoyed success in Hollywood, where she edited several films by actress and director Angelina Jolie, including By the Sea, and the war drama In the Land of Blood and Honey.
Patricia Rommel was born on 10 May 1956 in Paris. She moved to Germany as a young adult. Her career as an editor began in Munich with an internship at Arri, fruitful contacts with talented directors from the film school, and finally the editing of the genre film Der Fan. Since then, her editing skills have been particularly evident in her precise character portrayals and her ability to bring interpersonal relationships and biographies to life. In this way, she creates outstanding narrative arcs spanning decades and generations. Her sense of rhythm and timing in editing shapes moving life stories and fateful human encounters.
Patricia Rommel's artistry gives rise to cinematic dramaturgy that touches us and allows us to immerse ourselves deeply in foreign times and lives. Through her skillful use of music and sound design, she regularly demonstrates her precise cinematic flair for cinema in her film projects. In her work, Patricia Rommel sees herself first and foremost as part of a creative team that brings the film ideas of many important directors to life. She likes to describe herself as the “teacher” of a film project, working together with the “parents” from the directing and production teams to ensure that a film grows, can stand on its own narrative feet, and ultimately becomes a success in the cinema, with critics and audiences alike.
Patricia has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 2018. She is also a member of the European and German film academies.
Filmography (Selection)
1982 Der Fan. Cinema Fiction. Eckhart Schmidt.
1996 Beyond Silence (Jenseits der Stille). Cinema Fiction. Caroline Link.
1997 Life Is All You Get (Das Leben ist eine Baustelle). Cinema Fiction. Wolfgang Becker.
1999 Annaluise & Anton (Pünktchen und Anton). Cinema Fiction. Caroline Link.
2000 Gripsholm. Cinema Fiction. Xavier Koller.
2001 Emil und die Detektive. Cinema Fiction. Franziska Buch.
2001 Nowhere in Africa (Nirgendwo in Afrika). Cinema Fiction. Caroline Link.
2004 Off Beat (Kammerflimmern). Cinema Fiction. Hendrik Hölzemann.
2004 Die Nacht singt ihre Lieder. Cinema Fiction. Romuald Karmakar.
2006 The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen). Cinema Fiction. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
2006 French for Beginners (Échange). Cinema Fiction. Christian Ditter.
2008 A Year Ago in Winter (Im Winter ein Jahr). Cinema Fiction. Caroline Link.
2009 The Last Station. Cinema Fiction. Michael Hoffman.
2010 The Tourist. Cinema Fiction. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
2011 In the Land of Blood and Honey. Cinema Fiction. Angelina Jolie.
2013 Exit Marrakech. Cinema Fiction. Caroline Link.
2014 Gloria. Cinema Fiction. Christian Keller.
2015 By the Sea. Cinema Fiction. Angelina Jolie.
2017 First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers. Cinema Fiction. Angelina Jolie.
2017 Berlin Rebel High School. Cinema Documentary. Alexander Kleider.
2018 Never Look Away (Werk ohne Autor). Cinema Fiction. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
2019 When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit (Als Hitler das rosa Kaninchen stahl). Cinema Fiction. Caroline Link.
2022 No Name Restaurant. Cinema Fiction. Stefan Sarazin & Peter Keller.
2023 Black Box. Cinema Fiction. Asli Özge.
2024 Die geschützten Männer. Cinema Fiction. Irene von Alberti.
© Missing FilmsNONKONFORM
Documentary Competition
Saturday 25 October at 13:30 – Filmhaus Cinema
DE 2024, 117 min., German with English subtitles
A life that defies norms: Dietrich Kuhlbrodt, born in Hamburg in 1932, grew up as a member of the Hitler Youth, became a lawyer and prosecutor, brought Nazi criminals to justice – and at the same time began playing their roles in the theater. His life story is one in which postwar Germany and counterculture, jurisprudence and anarchy, collide. As an actor in films by Christoph Schlingensief and Lars von Trier, he throws himself into absurd excesses; encouraged by his school friend Ulrich Gregor, he fights the mainstream as a critic. As a widower, he fondly remembers his wife's intellect and independence; as a family man, he reflects on his own fractures. Between old Super 8 recordings, private and contemporary historical fragments, ironic memories, media perspectives, and quiet observations, a stream of consciousness unfolds that refuses to be brought into line.
Editor: Andrea Schumacher. Director: Arne Körner. Cinematography: Max Sänger, Elias Müller, Arne Körner. Music: Helge Schneider. Production: Kinoscope Film. Distributor: Missing Films, Berlin.
The film talk after the screening will be in German.
© Gaga CorporationPanel: When War Shapes Form: Rethinking Khartoum
Main Topic – Editing Hybrid Formats
Saturday 25 October at 16:45 – Filmforum Cinema
In English
In English
With film excerpts from Khartoum (Sudan, UK, DEU, Qatar 2025) and in dialogue with editor Yousef Yubeh, co-producer Frank W. Albers will provide insights into why the documentary film project became a hybrid film project, how the dramatization changed, but the message of the film remained the same, despite the new artistic form. The war and new realities led to the Sudanese directors taking innovative approaches which are now capturing the attention of the global documentary industry.
Despite the outbreak of the devastating war in Sudan during production – the team managed safely to relocate to a neighbouring country and continued working with editor Yousef Yubeh on site. The Sudan War forced the whole team to find more innovative and creative ways to represent the new realities of a destroyed Khartoum and the subject's new interior and exterior realities. Working together to break storytelling boundaries through VFX, graphic animation, green screen, alongside observational documentary, the wohole team entered an unknown creative frontier. The completion of the work is a cinematic testament to the importance of culture, lived experience and memory at a time when it is testament to the importance of culture, lived experience and memory at a time when it is under the greatest threat.
Yousef Jubeh is a Palestinian-Irish editor. He has over a decade of experience editing in film and television, which includes work for the BBC, Al-Jazeera, ARTE, Lorton Entertainment, M&C Satchii, Burst Pictures and Native Voice Films. Some of his recent feature work includes Detained under the Houthis, The Salon and Khartoum.
Frank W. Albers studied German and Scandinavian as well as cultural science. During his studies he already worked as an editor for a television production company in Berlin and for the Berlinale. In 1998 he switched to the Goethe Institute and managed the Goethe Center in Rekjavík/Iceland until 2001. After his return to Germany, he took over the international promotion of culture at the Robert Bosch Foundation. In addition to promoting literature, he built up the international film funding here, with a regional focus on co-productions with Central and Eastern Europe as well as the Arab world and East Africa. In summer 2022 he started his own production company.
© DreifilmJUPITER
Fiction Competition
Sunday 26 October at 10:00 – Filmhaus CinemaDE 2023, 100 min., German with English subtitles
Fourteen-year-old Lea is torn from her familiar teenage environment when her parents take her and her mentally disabled brother on a hastily planned trip into the wilderness. In a remote mountain camp, they are welcomed by members of a sect where Lea's parents have long sought hope and meaning in life. The group believes that the origin of humanity lies on the planet Jupiter. Under the guidance of their guru, they prepare for a passing comet, whose trajectory is supposed to carry them spiritually to higher spheres. Lea, who used to defend the sect's beliefs against the ridicule of her classmates, is disturbed by the elaborate preparations for the cosmic event.
Editor: Valesca Peters. Director: Benjamin Pfohl. Screenplay: Benjamin Pfohl, Silvia Wolkan. Cinematography: Tim Kuhn. Music: Gary Hirche. Production: Dreifilm. Cast: Mariella Aumann, Laura Tonke, Andreas Döhler, Ulrich Matthes. Distributor: Missing Films, Berlin.
Note: The film talk after the screening will be in German.
© Constantin Film Verleih – Jürgen OlczykSEPTEMBER 5
Fiction Competition
Sunday 26 October at 12:45 – Filmhaus CinemaDE 2024, 91 min., English with German subtitles
September 5, 1972, is the tenth day of competition at the Summer Olympics in Munich. At 4:40 a.m., the early shift at the American broadcaster ABC hears gunshots coming from the Olympic Village. Palestinian terrorists have taken eleven members of the Israeli team hostage. Against the resistance of its own news department, ABC's sports team begins to report live on the hostage-taking. Ambitious producer Geoff wants to prove himself to his boss, the legendary Roone Arledge. With the help of German interpreter Marianne, the team tries to understand the escalating situation amid conflicting speculation – and is confronted with the dark side of live broadcasting a terrorist act.
The film won nine German Film Awards, and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Screenplay.
Editor: Hansjörg Weißbrich. Regie: Tim Fehlbaum. Screenplay: Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum. Cinematography: Markus Förderer. Music: Lorenz Dangel. Production: BerghausWöbke Filmproduktion, Projected Picture Works. Cast: Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin, Leonie Benesch. Distributor: Constantin Filmverleih, Munich.
Note: The film talk after the screening will be in German.
© Intermezzo FilmsRIVERBOOM
Documentary Competition
Sunday 26 October at 15:00 – Filmforum Cinema
CH 2023, 95 min., French & English, with German subtitles
A few months after September 11, 2001, Claude, a typographer from Lausanne, embarks on an improvised trip to Afghanistan with a fake press pass. His ambitious reporter friend Serge wants to distract him from his recent loss. The third member of the group is Paolo, a war photographer with a less Protestant outlook, who immediately senses competition in Claude, who has spontaneously equipped himself with a camcorder. From now on, still images and moving images travel as a pair, with artistic black-and-white shadows competing with the amateurish charm of spontaneous snapshots. The three quickly leave the alternative reality of the US military base and, with more luck than sense, seek out the real Afghanistan in bazaars, in the living rooms of warlords, on paths marked with mine warning signs, and among gangs in no man's land. At the Boom River, necessity once again brings them together before the camcorder tapes finally run out. Two decades later, the material believed to be lost reappears—dusty and scratched, telling the story of a friendship and our awkward view of foreign wars.
Editor: Kevin Schlosser. Director, Cinematography: Claude Baechtold. Production: Intermezzo Films. Distributor: First Hand Films, Zurich.
Note: The film talk after the screening will be in English.
© Alva Film – Diego Romero Suárez-LlanosREINAS
Fiction Competition
Sunday 26 October at 15:15 – Filmhaus CinemaCH, PER, ESP 2024, 104 min., Spanish with German subtitles
Summer 1992: Peru is in the grip of hyperinflation; unrest and curfews dominate life in the capital Lima. Elena, who comes from a middle-class family, decides to accept a job offer in the USA and emigrate with her daughters Aurora and Lucía. To do so, however, she needs the signature of her ex-husband Carlos, the girls' father. He is a charming dreamer and teller of tall tales, who has hardly been seen for a long time. Now, however, he wants to spend some time with his daughters and uses beach trips to gauge their mood. In fact, the impending departure to a foreign country triggers mixed feelings in the girls – especially the older Aurora, who has reservations about leaving her friends in Peru.
CH, PER, ESP 2024. Editor: Paola Freddi, Francesco de Matteis. Director: Klaudia Reynicke. Screenplay: Klaudia Reynicke, Diego Vega. Cinematography: Diego Romero Suarez Llanos. Music: Klaudia Reynicke, Gioacchino Balistreri. Producion: Alva Film(CH), Maretazo Cine (PER), Inicia Films (ESP). Cast: Abril Gjurinovic, Luana Vega, Jimena Lindo, Gonzalo Molina, Susi Sánchez, u. a. Distributor: Filmcoopi, Zurich).
Note: The film talk after the screening will be in Italian, with German translation.