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20-614: The initiative for the 1st All-German Leipzig Festival of Cultural and Documentary Films came from West German journalist and film critic Ludwig Thomés who, in the course of a discussion with the East German filmmakers club, Club der Filmschaffenden der DDR , proposed establishing a festival in Leipzig both as a counterpart to the Mannheim Culture and Documentary Filmweek (now known as International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg ) and as

40-452: A "survey film", spanned three years, and filming wrapped up in 1958. Before screening the resulting 33-minute documentary , Tire dié , Birri debuted with a short film called La primera fundación de Buenos Aires , which premiered in the 1959 Cannes Film Festival , earning Birri critical acclaim and paving his way for further projects of similar nature, like Buenos Días, Buenos Aires (1960) and more famously Los inundados (1961), which won

60-409: A competition as run with the buyer of the 3000th season pass being awarded a return flight to London. However, over the course of the decade visitor numbers started to recover with some 16,000 attendees in 1997. In 1994 Fred Gehler took over the mantle of festival director and oversaw the introduction of the separate animation competition in 1995. In 1998 the first golden dove for lifetime achievement

80-435: A platform for productions from East Germany. After receiving permission from the responsible authorities, the inaugural festival was held from 11 to 17 September 1955 with Walter Kernicke as director. However, no sooner had the festival started than it was stopped. Following harsh media criticism of the political influence over and the organization of the 1956 festival the organizers attempted to force changes. The response of

100-669: Is aimed at industry professionals as well as cinema enthusiasts, with about 300 professional participants and approximately 50,000 visitors each year, it is one of the largest film festivals in Germany. After several screenings there are public panel discussions with the film's representatives (e. g. directors, actors or producers). The festival presents films of independent newcomer directors and who are internationally widely-unknown, focussing on arthouse and auteur films. The films selected must be premieres and thus films screened at Cannes , Locarno , Venice and any German festival are excluded for

120-686: Is the second-oldest film festival in Germany, behind only the Berlinale . Originally held in Mannheim , since 1994 is co-hosted by Mannheim and Heidelberg, two neighboring cities which are less than 20 kilometers away from each other. The festival usually takes places in October or November. The last edition, the 70th IFFMH, was held in November 2021, and the next edition is scheduled to take place on 17–27 November 2022. The International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg

140-782: The Venice Film Festival award for Best First Film. After directing a short film about La Pampa Gringa ( La pampa gringa ) in 1963, Birri retired from directing and only returned 12 years later to make a movie about Ernesto "Che" Guevara ( Mi hijo el Che ) in 1985. His next film, also about El Che, was filmed in 1997 ( Che, ¿muerte de una utopía? ), but remained commercially unreleased. Birri has since done two more movies - El siglo del viento (1999) and ZA 05. Lo viejo y lo nuevo (2006). In 1986 Birri co-founded Escuela Internacional de Cine y Television (The International School of Film and Television), in San Antonio de Los Baños, Cuba. He

160-702: The Enemy". From 1983 to 1995 the Findling Award was given for the best film. Following the political changes in East Germany in 1989, the festival was assured of financial support from the transition authority and re-branded itself in 1990 the International Leipzig Film Week for Documentary and Animation Film under the directorship of Christiane Mückenberger . The early 1990s were characterized by extremely low attendances and half empty cinemas. In 1992

180-570: The German-language initialism IFFMH , is an annual film festival established in 1952 hosted jointly by the cities of Mannheim and Heidelberg in Baden-Württemberg , the southwest region of Germany . The festival focuses on arthouse and auteur cinema produced by international newcomer directors, and historically it served as a springboard for many experimental filmmakers from cinemas that have been overlooked by Western audiences. It

200-605: The Gold and Silver Doves were introduced as prizes and the white dove appeared for the first time as the festival logo. The dove had been designed by Pablo Picasso for the Paris World Peace Congress of 1947 and the organization committee asked French author Vladimir Pozner if he could seek his friend's permission to use the dove for the festival. Picasso readily agreed. In 1964 Wolfgang Harkenthal replaced Walter Kernicke as director and his first festivals took place against

220-578: The Government was to cancel the 1957, 1958 and 1959 festivals. The official reasons given were: the deteriorating situation in West German film making (1957), the loss of the original function of the festival as a German cultural and documentary film week, (1958) and plans to establish a cultural and documentary film week of the socialist states (1958). In 1960 the festival returned under the name International Leipzig Documentary and Short Film Week and in 1962

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240-985: The International Competition. In 2010, the MANNHEIM MEETING PLACE was launched. The project succeeds the Festival's former co-production market MANNHEIM MEETINGS, focusing on the improvement of marketing opportunities of completed film projects. However, co-production meetings will still take place. During the history of the festival, feature films by now-famous directors such as François Truffaut , Helke Sander , Rainer Werner Fassbinder , Kalthoum Bornaz , Jim Jarmusch , Béla Tarr , Shelley Saywell , Atom Egoyan , Krzysztof Kieślowski , Bryan Singer , Guillaume Nicloux , Lou Ye , Rafi Pitts , Thomas Vinterberg , Derek Cianfrance , Luca Guadagnino and Rahmin Bahrani were first introduced to an international public at

260-642: The US Army. In the official festival bulletin they wrote "No responsible film maker may remain apathetic to the Vietnam question." The 1966 festival opened with a blood collection for the people of Vietnam. The tone changed somewhat in 1967 with ban being put on all Czech films documenting the developing " Prague Spring " movement. In 1968 the festival was renamed the International Leipzig Documentary and Short Film Week for Cinema and Television and despite

280-466: The backdrop of international conflicts and increasing politicization of the festival. In 1965 the 20th Anniversary of the end of the Second World War was marked by a retrospective titled "Films against fascism". In addition, Peter Ulbrich , Stanley Forman and Joris Ivens appealed to all documentary film makers to give their support to Vietnam and to inform the civilian population of the behavior of

300-481: The festival. In addition, since 1998 in sporadic intervals, the honorary Master of Cinema Award is issued to outstanding cineastic artist: In addition, since 2013, the honorary New Master of Cinema Award is issued: Fernando Birri Fernando Birri (March 13, 1925 – December 27, 2017) was an Argentine film maker and theorist. He was considered by many to be the father of the new Latin American cinema . Birri

320-484: The name change the festival continued to be overshadowed by bans on films critical of official East German policy, especially regarding films on the situation in Czechoslovakia and Latin American; conflicts on censorship and freedom that were to remain a feature of the festival until 1989. In 1973 Ronald Trisch took over the post of director and in 1974 Jane Fonda attended to promote the Vietnam film "Introduction to

340-510: Was awarded to Santiago Álvarez and Fernando Birri . In 1998 the festival moved to its current home in the Passage Kino, Hainstrasse . Following Fred Gehler's retirement after the 2003 festival, Claas Danielsen was appointed new festival director and introduced the DOK Industry program as a platform for industry professionals to meet and exchange ideas. In 2005 the short title DOK Leipzig

360-704: Was born in Santa Fe, Argentina . After being involved in theater and poetry , he went to Rome to study film-making at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia , from 1950 to 1953, and appeared in the 1955 Italian film Gli Sbandati . In 1956 he returned to Santa Fe, to form the Film Institute at the Universidad Nacional del Litoral university. A year later he started filming scenes of poverty and human misery in lower-class Santa Fe. The project, billed as

380-759: Was officially launched alongside the formal International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film. Between 1960 and 1989 the selection of the retrospectives occurred in cooperation with Staatliches Filmarchiv der DDR , the East German Film Archive. Since 1991 this function has been taken on by the Film Department of the German Federal Archives . International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg The Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival ( German : Internationales Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg ), often referred to by

400-901: Was the school's first director. In fall 2009, Birri was a visiting professor at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. Birri may hold the record for the longest title of a motion picture ever, for his first film, the short (41 minutes) released at the 1959 Cannes film festival, Vera historia de la primera fundación de Buenos Aires como también de varias navegaciones de muchas partes desconocidas, islas de reinos, también de muchos peligros, peleas y escaramuzas, tanto por tierra como por mar, que nunca han sido descriptos en otras historias o crónicas, extraídos del libro 'Viajes al río de La Plata', original del soldado alemán Ulrico Schmidl, miembro de la expedición capitaneada por don Pedro de Mendoza, quien publicó por primera vez estas memorias, bien anotadas para utilidad pública en la ciudad de Francfort el año 1567 . It

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