Filmfest München (Munich International Film festival) will honor actress and director Robin Wright along with Austrian film actress Senta Berger, German actress Franka Potente and Polish director Małgorzata Szumowska at this year’s open-air edition. Senta Berger and Robin Wright will each receive the CineMerit Award, Franka Potente will receive the Margot Hielscher Award and a special tribute will pay homage to multiple award-winning Polish director Małgorzata Szumowska. As Robin Wright is in the United States, she will be honored remotely. Senta Berger, Franka Potente, and Małgorzata Szumowska will be in Munich in person.
“This year at Filmfest München, we are proud to present four fantastic female personalities of cinema: Senta Berger, Robin Wright, Franka Potente, and Małgorzata Szumowska. What a terrific foursome!” — Festival Director Diana Iljine
Senta Berger
The award-winning Senta Berger, who recently celebrated her 80th birthday, has an acting career spanning more than seven decades. Her roles have ranged from German films such as Operation Caviar (1961) to international (co-)productions including Cast a Giant Shadow (1966) with Kirk Douglas and John Wayne, to roles in series. Her next work, Oskars Kleid, directed by Hüseyin Tabak, is scheduled for release in 2022.
Filmfest München will honor Senta Berger with the CineMerit Award for her achievements in the art of film. Following the award ceremony, at Senta Berger’s request, Willkommen bei den Hartmanns will be shown. This film was directed by Simon Verhoeven, one of her two sons. He also wrote the screenplay for the film and cast his mother in one of the leading roles. This comedy about an affluent Munich family who take in a refugee was the most successful German film of 2016, drawing more than four million moviegoers.
Robin Wright
Robin Wright directs her first feature film, Land, about a woman who retreats to the solitude of the Rocky Mountains after a painful loss and tries to get her life back on a (new) track. Wright herself plays the lead role in this skillfully staged drama, which will be in German theaters from August 5.
Filmfest München will present Robin Wright with the CineMerit Award for her achievements in the art of film and will show Land in its German premiere on a large outdoor screen. Robin Wright, who lives in the United States, will receive her CineMerit remotely. In addition, Filmfest München will produce and upload an extensive online Filmmakers Live! discussion with her.
Franka Potente
Franka Potente presents her first feature film, Home, a moving drama about a man who is released from prison after twenty years and attempts to regain his footing in the small US town he came from. The film opens in German theaters on July 29.
Franka Potente will be honored with the Margot Hielscher Award at this year’s Filmfest München. The award and 10,000 euros in prize money are sponsored by Peter Graf von Schall-Riaucour, the nephew of actress and singer Margot Hielscher, who died in 2017. After the award ceremony is held with Franka Potente attending, Home will be shown on the big open-air screen.
Małgorzata Szumowska
Małgorzata Szumowska co-directs her new film Never Gonna Snow Again with longtime artistic partner Michał Englert. The film was financed in part with prize money from the CineCoPro Award, which Match Factory Productions received at Filmfest München 2019; it opens in German movie theaters on August 19.
This year, in cooperation with MUBI, the Filmfest is dedicating a tribute to Szumowska. Never Gonna Snow Again will be shown on a large outdoor screen with the director attending. MUBI will also be screening a special online program during the festival: “Homage to Małgorzata Szumowska”. Elles (2011), Body, and Mug will be among the films shown.