Dear film fans,
A festival announcement from Wuerzburg in the fall, business as usual. Yes, the International Film Festival will once again take place on the last weekend in January 2024 – from January 25th to 28th. Once again, the Bürgerbräu grounds in the Zellerau district will serve as our home, and once again the organizing Filminitiative Wuerzburg will once again present a diverse, unusual and international selection of films. And yet much is different in 2024.
This is for the simple yet joyful reason that this will be the 50th edition of the International Film Festival. In 1974, 50 years ago, a group of Wuerzburg film enthusiasts organized a film festival for the first time. While the Filmini is taking this as an opportunity to come up with numerous anniversary activities for the festival weekend, there will already be numerous events in the run-up to the festival that are characterized by anticipation.
An initial insight into the history of Fiwo will be provided by a film series under the motto “See previous audience film award winners elsewhere!”. This started last Saturday, November 4 at the Theater am Neunerplatz with the Turkish film “Mommo” (director: Atalay Tasdiken), which won the feature film award in 2010. It continues below:
- Monday, November 13, 7 pm, Staatlicher Hofkeller:
“Was tun” (Documentary Film Award 2021) in the presence of filmmaker and actor Michael Kranz (“Das weiße Band”) - Sunday, November 26, 3 pm, Plastisches Theater Hobbit:
“The King of Masks” by Wu Tianming (Children’s and Youth Film Award 1999) - Sunday, January 7, 3 pm, Theater Chambinzky:
“The Drummer And The Keeper” by Nick Kelly (Feature Film Award 2019)
Admission is free, seats are limited. Seat reservation at 50Jahre@filmwochenende.de. Screenings of other films are being planned and will be publicized on social media and at www.filmwochenende.de.
On top of this, a Filmini anniversary group has been compiling an overview of the past 50 years of Fiwo for months – also beyond individual winning films. The results of this review will be reflected in an exhibition. From January 13th to the final day of the festival on January 28th, the Spitäle at the Alte Mainbrücke will be offering its premises for this purpose. The film initiative is planning a vernissage for the premiere day (13.1.), information on this will follow.
However, the exhibition does not only shed light on the history of Fiwo. During their research, the amateur detectives came across so many unusual details from Wuerzburg’s cinema history that they quickly added them to their exhibition project. “Not just a “wine barrel at the highway”: Wuerzburg has had an impressive density of cinemas several times in its eventful history, and the people of Wuerzburg were real movie buffs,” says Filmini Co-CEO Florian Hoffmann, giving an insight.
The film nights at the Staatlicher Hofkeller are also celebrating an anniversary. For the 20th time, films will be shown under the time-honored residence over three days – this year under the motto “Breaking taboos – films we never wanted to show”.
- Tuesday, 14th of November, Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Blake Edwards
- Wednesday, 15th of November, L.A. Confidential by Curtis Hanson
- Thursday 16th of November, Gone with the wind by Victor Fleming
Admission is at 7 pm, including drinks a ticket costs 19 euros.
This year, the “Long Night of Short Films” will also take place on Thursday, December 21st, in the Kellerperle under the Stadtmensa. Admission is 7.30 pm, admission 5 euros.
Further information on the 50th Wuerzburg International Film Festival and the anniversary events will follow gradually over the coming weeks. If you would like to gain an insight beforehand: We will be happy to tell you about it, just let us know!