The Festival of Bavarian cinema April will be held from the 1st till the 8th April in Dom Kino.The festival is organised by FilmFernsehFonds Bayern in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut in Saint-Petersburg. From an outsider’s perspective, it may seem strange to talk about regional film culture in a country like Germany. In reality, however, themes and material have been handled very differently in different parts of the country, and approaches within Germany continue to vary to this day. This can be explained by history, by the people who live and work here and, of course, by film history itself. In fact, distinctions between films from the north and south can be made.

All of the films of the festival, whether comedy, drama or children’s film, reveal something about the world we live in today. They illustrate the wide variety of themes and genres addressed by contemporary Bavarian film, and are a testament to the important tradition of film in Bavaria and to the unerring commitment to its development. After the War and the division of Berlin, a new film scene appeared in Munich. From the mid-60s onwards “Young German Film” began to emerge, marking the first highpoint in the creation of a new type of cinema. Hauff, Herzog, Kluge, Reitz, von Trotta, Schlöndorff: all names which still arouse enthusiasm among today’s cinema-goers. These directors founded an independent cinema with new, personal material which continued to be active into the 80s. The success of these films at festivals also awakened interest abroad in a new generation of filmmakers. New German Cinema was born. It, too, had its home in Munich, where Fassbinder, Wenders, Schamoni – its most prominent exponents – were based. Today these names are already almost a thing of the past. New talents now dominate the market, seeking artistic and economic success with their films. Many of them, such as Doris Dörrie, Caroline Link, Dominik Graf and Peter Sehr, live and work in Bavaria: it is the productive blend of creativity, film politics and free enterprise which has maintained Munich’s status as a centre of German film production.

One of the highlights of the festival is the Golden Globe-nominated "Nowhere in Africa" by Caroline Link.

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