On November 6, the Braunschweig International Film Festival (BIFF) finally rolls out the yellow carpet again. Meanwhile, the HEINRICH Audience Award celebrates its 25th anniversary.
After 358 days without a festival, the 37th Braunschweig International Film Festival will be back next week, from November 6 - 12. Exciting, thrilling - but also nerve-wracking - weeks lie behind the BIFF crew and the final preparations are being made before things can finally get underway. "Our fingertips are slowly tingling. We can hardly wait to finally start the festival week and see how our hard work is bearing fruit," reports Karina Gauerhof, co-festival director of the BIFF, with regard to the start of the festival. "We are looking forward to welcoming great national and international guests and are excited about the numerous films and special events. We would like to thank all the members of the International Filmfest Braunschweig e.V. for their excellent cooperation throughout the year. Last but not least, we would also like to thank our highly committed and always motivated office team."
On November 6, the Braunschweig International Film Festival will begin with an opening film concert of Michael Dudok de Wit's THE RED SHIELD CREDIT. For the first time, Laurent Perez del Mar's award-winning music will be performed live by the Braunschweig State Orchestra to accompany the film. The composer is very much looking forward to this extraordinary evening: "I would like to meet the wonderful festival team and especially Karina Gauerhof and thank them for making this concert possible."
From Tuesday, November 7, festival visitors can then expect a cinematic journey full of highlights from all genres, accompanied by a diverse supporting program.
Audience Award The HEINRICH celebrates its 25th anniversary
The HEINRICH Audience Award is celebrating a significant anniversary this year. Together with its main sponsor, Volkswagen Financial Services (VWFS), the Braunschweig International Film Festival has been awarding the coveted audience award for the best film in the main competition since 1999. This year marks the 25th anniversary of this award. "It is always a moving moment when the HEINRICH Audience Award is presented at the Braunschweig State Theater. For me, the HEINRICH embodies the most sincere form of appreciation, as it reveals whether a film has met the taste of the audience," enthuses Anthony Bandmann, Board Member for Sales and Marketing at Volkswagen Financial Services AG.
The important recognition of the Audience Award is also clearly emphasized by the words of director Chris Kraus. His gripping film FOUR MINUTES was chosen as the best film by the audience in Braunschweig in 2006. "For FOUR MINUTES, it was the first audience award the film had won at the time, and it gave the distributor a certain confidence that the audience could like this strangely powerful and thoroughly dark film. HEINRICH paved the way for a cinema success in Germany that hardly anyone had believed in. Who knows if we would have made it without this award," reflects Kraus.
It wasn't too long ago that Jan Holoubek was able to celebrate winning the HEINRICH award. The Polish director won the audience award in 2021 with his work 25 JAHRE UNSCHULD and hopes to repeat this success this year with his latest film DOPPELGÄNGER. THE DOUBLE. "Unfortunately, I wasn't able to be there in person last time, and I regret that. But this year I will be there with my new work. The 25th anniversary of the HEINRICH Prize is a very special occasion, and I feel honored to be a part of it," Holoubek outlines enthusiastically.
Once again this year, ten European debut and second films will be competing for the two main prizes, The HEINRICH and the Volkswagen Financial Services Film Award. The two prizes, each endowed with 10,000 euros, are sponsored by Volkswagen Financial Services. The public award ceremony will take place on Saturday, November 11, in the main auditorium of the Staatstheater. Both winning films will be shown again on Sunday at the Astor.