Focus on New Zealand // Highlights of Independent Cinema // 10th exground youth days
Soon the screens will be glowing again: November 15 – 24, 2013 exground filmfest presents in its 26th edition the best independently produced feature, documentary and experimental films as well as animation of the year in Wiesbaden. More than 3,000 films from 93 countries from Albania to Venezuela have been submitted to the festival – another record after last year's. The finalized programme, once more embracing more than 250 short and feature length films from all over the world, will be available at the beginning of October. Festival centre is Caligari FilmBühne in Wiesbaden, supplemented by Murnau Filmtheater and Kulturpalast.
Among the regular festival sections are the “American Independents“, the series “International“, “News from Germany“ and the “Country in Focus”, all of them presenting films that hardly receive a theatrical release.
This year's country in focus is dedicated to the cinematography of New Zealand. The festival team has compiled a programme of not just fresh short and feature length films, but also lets the audience rediscover such outstanding productions as THE PIANO by Jane Campion on the big screen.
One of the already determined programme highlights of exground filmfest
26 among others is the feature film NORDSTRAND by Florian Eichinger, which will celebrate its Wiesbaden premiere in the section „News from Germany”. The director and one of the lead actors of this intense drama about two very different brothers will attend the festival to introduce the film in person to the Wiesbaden audience.
The “German Short Film Competition” as one of the festival’s most important competitions assembles ten German short film productions competing for awards endowed with cash and services worth € 8,000.
Winner, second and third place are determined by audience votes. In the “International Short Film Competition” an expert jury proclaims the winner, the award is endowed with € 1,500 for the director. Short masterpieces by local directors will be screened in the „Wiesbaden Special – Short Film Competition“, endowed with cash and service prizes of altogether € 3,000. The winner here will also be determined by audience votes.
The “exground youth days“, the youth film festival within exground filmfest, celebrate a jubilee: the section “Youth Days – International Youth Film Competition“ takes place for the tenth time. A Wiesbaden youth jury will award the prize endowed with € 2,500 to the best youth film. For the first time an audience award will be given, endowed with € 1,000. The exground youth days will open with the eighth “Wiesbaden Youth Film Competition”, for which the prize money is € 450. Some candidates for the “International Youth Film Competition” have already been confirmed: the German coming-of-age tragicomedy I FEEL LIKE DISCO by Axel Ranisch, the Polish-Hungarian-German coproduction THE PHOTOGRAPH by Maciej Adamek, the Canadian entry BLACKBIRD by Jason Buxton, the US drama IT FELT LIKE LOVE by Eliza Hittman and the droll Dutch tragicomedy THE DEFLOWERING OF EVA VAN END by Michiel ten Horn.
exground filmfest offers a multifold supporting programme – opening and closing night parties, concerts, readings as well as panel discussions with national and international guests.
The final and complete programme goes online the beginning of October – to be found at www.exground.com. At the same time film stills and information material will be available on our press server. Journalists writing about the festival can request accreditation free of charge for exground filmfest 26. The accreditation form is up for download.
exground filmfest is an international film festival, organized and presented since 1990 on a honorary basis by the association Wiesbadener Kinofestival e. V. With 14,500 viewers attending in 2012, among them 250 professionals (press, guests, directors, producers, actors etc.) exground filmfest belongs to the film festivals with the highest attendance in Hesse.