Mannheim – A Benchmark of High Quality
The Mannheim Film Festival is the second oldest in Germany. Since 1952, it has gradually established itself as a festival of auteur and young cinema. The main competition, entitled “On the Rise,” includes debuts and second auteur films carefully selected from all parts of the world, in various styles.
With “New Film Experience” as its credo, the IFFMH has been venturing new, interdisciplinary perspectives on and through the art of film.
For the past seven years, it has been headed by Sasha Keilholz, a critic, curator of the Deutsche Kinemathek, and distribution professional. His curatorial and organizational skills make the festival one of the most interesting experiences of the season. His team has managed to build a friendly ten-day event that doesn’t need stars or a red carpet to survive, yet still attracts 50,000 viewers. In addition to the competition.
“What distinguishes this year’s selection of films is their incredible diversity of form. We’re very impressed by the variety of narrative approaches and aesthetic forms of expression that the young filmmakers have chosen. The subjects are very much rooted in the present, often based on real events and, in some cases, personal experiences.”
Films in the On the Rise competition do not necessarily have to be world premieres, although at least their German premiere is desirable. Many of them have been presented in Toronto, San Sebastian, Locarno, in the Certain Regard or Semaine de la Critique sections at Cannes. However, while big names, aggressive forms, or shocking content are what usually count at major festivals, in Mannheim they rely on newcomers who bring original, profound reflection.
“We go to big festivals as a team, but we avoid the main competitions,” says Sasha Keilholz. “We look for our films in the parallel sections.”
Despite the diversity of genres and styles, this year’s competition had common denominators: the undercurrents of family relationships, working with memory, understanding the boundary between imaginary and lived reality. And also the complicated work with subjective time, which rules memory.
It is no coincidence that the winner of the competition was the magical Chinese film Eye Sounds by director Zhongchen Zhang, which already attracted attention in Toronto. A devastated agricultural area is the setting for a traumatic family story as seen through the eyes of a little girl. She seeks understanding through a mystical encounter with a child searching for his mother in a field and through ancient statues at an archaeological site. German director Roderick Warich received special recognition for his extensive mystical thriller Night Casino, filmed in Thailand as a deliberate tribute to Apichatpong.
The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation Award for screenplay and direction went to Canadian-Hungarian director Sophy Romvari for Blue Heron, an internally complex confession of a woman who remembers her 16-year-old brother immersed in the dark depths of autism. Jeremy’s family and teams of experts try to help him, but his mysterious inner self leads him to ruin. Here, too, several temporal and semantic levels intertwine, like a prayer to a loved one whose life could not be saved. Romvari also won the Young Jury Award.
Director Zain Duraie deals with the same topic in the film Sink, awarded by the Ecumenical Jury. It is a co-production between Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and France. Here, too, the hero is a likable teenager from an educated family. He falls into a severe mental disorder and fights his demons alone with the help of his mother. Unlike in Canada, in Amman is no support team for him, but the result is the same: no one can help Adam, and in the end, he calls an ambulance to save his family from himself. Unlike Socha Romvari, Zain Diraie works with a powerfully told linear story.
The excellent Belgian film Adam’s Interest by Laura Wendel deserves special mention. This hospital drama tells the story of a malnourished little boy, his loving mother, and a nurse who cares more about the fate of the child and his mother than the system. The excellent, suspenseful script and performances are reminiscent of the Dardenne brothers, who produced the film.
Each of the sixteen films in competition deserved an award, and it is only right that the juries and judges came to different conclusions. The FIPRESCI Prize went to Sven Bressers’ exceptional Dutch film Reedland. Non-actor Gerit Knobbe excels in the lead role of an old farmer whose life is touched by a strange mystery.Finally, the audience award deservedly went to the British film Surviving Earth by director Thea Gajić. In it, she recounts the true tragic story of her Serbian father, musician Vlado Gajić, who, even after years in Britain, is unable to come to terms with his war-torn homeland.
Tereza Brdeckova
©FIPRESCI 2025