After being absent from the cultural calendar in 2016, the German Film Festival organised by the German Maltese Circle is back this year with its eighth edition at a new venue and in an extended format.

A total of eight films representing a wide spectrum of recent German cinema will be screened between November 22 and 26 at the Embassy Cinema in Valletta.

Sirka Facklam, the festival’s curator, explains that “a positive effect of changing venue is that the screens are bigger and therefore allow for a more intense cinematographic experience, especially for those films which have stunning visuals. I am actually looking forward to experiencing that”.

Stefan Zweig in Farewell to Europe. Photo Mathias Botho

The festival kicks off with Maria Schrader’s historical biographical drama Stefan Zweig – Farewell to Europe. This beautifully shot film portrays the Austrian author at the height of his worldwide fame during his years of exile in South America and New York. It is a story of a refugee who, with the loss of his home country, also loses his capability to write and ultimately his purpose to live.

“The new look is also due to the fact that we wanted to add some new elements to the festival and also to include the attendance of directors to engage with the audience,” Sirka says.

“We thought that for young directors our festival might offer a good platform to present and promote their films abroad. In addition, the debut feature films being screened are of very high standards and I find the complex process of creating a first feature film very fascinating.”

To this end, this year the festival will introduce a Young German Cinema section, where two aspiring directors will present their debut films in person and will engage in a discussion with the audience after the screenings.

On Friday, Austrian director Adrian Goiginger will present his touching debut film The Best of All Worlds, based on his own experience growing up as a child of a mother addicted to drugs. Despite the difficult circumstances, this film is an expression of love towards his mother and the “best of all worlds” she created for him. The film premiered at the Berlinale Festival 2017 and has since won numerous awards.

On Saturday, Luise Brinkman’s debut film Beat Beat Heart will be screened in the presence of the director. This is a feel-good low-budget summer comedy film about finding true love in times of Tinder and other dating portals and has been described as clever, spontaneous and relaxed.

The festival also features the award-winning, controversial yet fascinating movie Wild by Nicolette Krebitz, which tells the bizarre story of a young woman falling in love at first sight with a wolf.

24 Weeks, a drama by Anne Zohra Berrached, challenges the audience by portraying the moral conflict of a young woman who learns six months into pregnancy that her child will have a severe disability.

A Heavy Heart is a powerful portrait of an ex-boxer suffering from the fatal neurological disease ALS. The film is directed by Student Academy Award-winner Thomas Stuber. The festival selection is completed with the multi-award-winning Victoria by Sebastion Shipper. This is impressive in that it is a film that has been shot in just one single continuous take, which demands extraordinary skills and a high level of improvisation from the director, actors and camera people alike.

This year’s festival features a high proportion of films by female directors – was this a deliberate choice by the organisers?

24 Weeks. Photo: Zero One Film GBH

“To be honest it was not a deliberate choice to include a number of films by female directors in this year’s programme,” admits Sirka.

“It happened rather by chance and caught my attention only once I had finalised the selection process. That said, the way things turned out proves that female directors contribute very interesting and intriguing films to the German cinema scene.”

The festival will once again offer a matinee film for the younger audience, this year featuring At Eye Level by Evi Goldbrunner and Joachim Dollhopf. In this touching tale, a young 11-year-old boy searches for his real dad, only to realise that he is a dwarf and not the father he wanted to impress the other kids with.

www.germanmaltesecircle.org/german_film_festival/