Spectrum Young Talent

Now for the second time, the Cologne Conference and the Cologne International Film Conference of the Filmstiftung NRW, together with the ifs internationale filmschule köln and the Kunsthochschule für Medien, present a series of screenings introducing outstanding works of the up-and-coming filmmaker generation.

Perhaps unsurprisingly under the programmatic heading "Spectrum", the list of common denominators among these début films is exhausted with the one criterion "first feature-length film". Internationality (offerings from Switzerland, the USA, and Poland), various educational backgrounds (not all of the directors are film school trained) and personal signatures make for a wide scope of genre, subject matter and cinematic visions. On closer observation, however, a general interest in straightforwardness and classic genres emerges, varied and fragmented to create something new.

Thus traditional material like the police drama "Strähl" is given an anarchistic spin, and the coming-of-age story "Jargo" is peppered with pitch-black humor. "Long Gone", a docu road movie, repeatedly strays from the melancholia typical of the genre, bringing plot twists and the will-to-form into play. These amazing new combinations, are rendered with a sure-handed, stylish sense of the suitable and the probable, doing good service to the demands of narrative.

In addition to the Kunsthochschule für Medien, the ifs internationale filmschule köln will for the first time participate in a public presentation of selected films by its students. An additional program presents a selection of international short films.

Again this year, an independent film school jury made up of students from the ifs internationale filmschule köln, the Kunsthochschule für Medien as well as theatre, media and film studies’ students of the University Cologne will choose the best film of the series.

Cologne Conference and the Cologne International Film Conference round off the program "Spectrum: Young Talent" with a panel discussion "Long Distance Run – Up-and-Coming Filmmakers on the Ups and Downs of their First Projects" where young directors and performers talk about how they maintain their creative momentum.