The timing couldn’t be worse. The preparations for the 40th Munich Film Festival are in full swing when a person bursts into the anticipation that makes the Bavarian film industry sit up and take notice: Diana Iljine, director of the Munich Film Festival since summer 2011 as managing director of the Internationale Münchner Filmwochen GmbH, will end on October 1st 2023 ahead of schedule.
“At my own request”, as stated in the press release from Wednesday evening, and only after the current festival, which can take place again in the usual pre-pandemic form from June 23rd to July 1st. Iljine is neither ill nor does she have a new job, according to film festival circles.
Harmonious dual leadership for four years: Diana Iljine and Christoph Gröner at the opening of the 2022 film festival in the Gasteig HP8.
(Photo: Catherine Hess)
A successor, at least for the 2024 and 2025 film festivals, has already been found: Christoph Gröner, artistic director alongside Iljine since January 2019, is to become director after the 40th edition. A search process will be started for the line from 2026, it said.
“Directing the Munich Film Festival was both a pleasure and an honor for me,” Iljine said. “Now I’ve decided to leave the festival after his 40th birthday. That’s not easy for me, because the Munich Film Festival is an absolute treasure and is supported by an extremely committed team. I wish Christoph Gröner and the team all the best for the future, the film festival has high visibility and success with the public and the industry.”
There will be speculation about the reasons for the resignation. The many years of political back and forth in the orientation and objectives of the festival and, of course, the financing, may have played a certain role. In 2018 and 2019, Prime Minister Markus Söder publicly emphasized that the film festival should be expanded into an “international media festival”. To this end, the Free State wanted to increase its commitment and add up to three million euros per year from 2019 onwards. The festival, founded in 1983, is mainly supported by the state and the city of Munich.
In 2019 there was at least the “Virtual Worlds” show with VR adventure films for everyone, well, and then the pandemic came. In 2020 there was only the excursion to the drive-in cinema, in 2021 to the open-air cinemas. Not much has remained of the big Söder dreams (at least the Berlinale, or even better, Cannes). Especially since the Free State and the city have not always agreed in the end. In 2022, the Prime Minister awarded Iljine the Bavarian Order of Merit.