Dear film fans,
Did you know that Wuerzburg’s cinema landscape was once so colorful and broad that even districts such as Grombühl, Sanderau and the Altes Mainviertel had their own movie theaters? That the “Sander-Lichtspiele”, affectionately known as “Sa-Li”, was reviled and frowned upon by the “helicopter parents” of the 1920s and 1930s? And that the Wuerzburg International Film Festival is probably the eighth-oldest film festival in Germany and the second-oldest in Bavaria? The 50th Wuerzburg International Film Festival will take place from January 25 to 28, 2024. To mark the occasion, the Wuerzburg Film Initiative is looking back on both its history and that of cinema in the city.
BIG ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION “50 YEARS OF FILM FESTIVAL”
From January 13 to the festival’s closing Sunday, January 28, the Spitäle at the Alte Mainbrücke will serve as an exhibition venue for a retrospective of 50 years of film festival and over 100 years of cinema history in Wuerzburg. A tribute to the forefathers and the most important figures in FiWo history, a look back at star guests, venues and festival posters as well as the retelling of many small and big stories. All lovingly illustrated and captioned. On top of this, the Filmini exhibition team dug no less deeply into Wuerzburg’s cinema history and dug out some spectacular images, facts and finds from the past millennium that are more than worthy of a partial exhibition.
The Vereinigung Kunstschaffender Unterfrankens (VKU), the hospital’s entertainer, opens the art gallery every Tuesday to Sunday, 11 am to 6 pm, with free admission.
To celebrate this special part of the anniversary program and inaugurate the exhibition, a vernissage will be held on the evening of the first opening day on Saturday, 13 January, from 7 pm. Dr. H. Steidle, the town’s local historian, will provide an expert and knowledgeable introduction to the extensive history documented here.
Another special event will take place in the exhibition rooms on January 19 from 7 pm, admission 6.30 pm: A short film evening entitled “Everyday Life & Anarchy”, including the 20-minute film “Der Wenzel”, for which the then Wuerzburg students Petra Mäußnest and Annette Plomin were downright celebrated at the 1992 film festival. The film lovingly portrays a farmer from Rothof (municipality of Rottendorf, district of Wuerzburg), who not only spruced up his cowshed with cow portraits, but also clashed with the building authorities over the construction of a small New Swan stone behind a dung heap.