Movie
Film festival Max Ophüls Prize starts
The 45th edition of the Max Ophüls Prize film festival opens in Saarbrücken on Monday. photo
© Oliver Dietze/dpa
Once a year in Saarbrücken everything revolves around young German-language film: the Max Ophüls Prize festival starts next week.
The festival week opens on Monday (January 22nd) with Adrian Goiginger’s feature film “Rickerl – Music is at most a hobby”. The Austrian singer-songwriter Voodoo Jürgens stars in the melancholic, humorous father-son story. Director Adrian Goiginger wants to present his film in person in Saarbrücken with some actors.
This year’s tribute is dedicated to the 45th Film Festival Max Ophüls Prize to the director, screenwriter and Grimme Prize winner Christian Schwochow (“Bad Banks”). During the festival week from January 22nd to 28th, the MOP will present three of its films followed by audience discussions. According to the organizers, he will also hold a master class for the talents present and a public workshop discussion for the audience.
During the festival week from January 22nd to 28th, 131 films will be shown in 226 screenings in seven venues – including four in the state capital. The total budget this year is around the same level as last year at 1.5 million euros.
18 prizes totaling 118,500 euros await the filmmakers, which will be awarded at a big closing ceremony on Saturday (January 27th, 7 p.m.). 58 films take part in the competition in the four categories feature film, documentary film, medium-length film and short film.
“A film year full of emotions, depth and the desire for freedom,” said program director Theresa Winkler. The themes: home, family, capitalism, but also queer love, homelessness and trauma. In addition, the areas of “faith and religion” and the topic of identities with their own family histories are well represented.
The 45th Max Ophüls Prize Film Festival will also take place in dual form. A selection of the films will again be available to stream via the film festival website. Around 45,500 visitors came to the last in-person event in January 2020.
Festival director Svenja Böttger was “really satisfied” with the ticket sales so far, she told dpa. There are already ideas that are in great demand. She is particularly pleased about the great demand for the 5- and 10-ticket passes, which were sold out shortly after the official start of ticket sales. “We share the enthusiasm with the filmmakers who will soon be setting off to present their works in person in Saarbrücken,” said Böttger.
Film Festival Max Ophüls Prize