Program 2024
Best of Cinema Fiction
THE ROOM NEXT DOOR
EMILIA PÉREZ
THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE
THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG
KNEECAP
MOON
ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT
A REAL PAIN
BIRD
RED PATH
Best of Cinema Documentary
ERNEST COLE: LOST AND FOUND
In 2017, 60,000 photo negatives were discovered in a Swedish bank vault. They came from the estate…
HOMEGROWN
Who are the people who support Donald Trump, even violently? HOMEGROWN follows three of them, an…
THE FLATS
Joe and his dog named »Freedom« make their daily rounds around the blocks of flats in the Catholic…
AFTERNOONS OF SOLITUDE
For many this movie might be hard to bear – and it has to be. Spanish director Albert Serra, whose…
THE HEXAGONAL HIVE AND THE MOUSE IN THE MAZE
“This film asks many questions, but gives few answers,” director Tilda Swinton states at the…
OF CARAVAN AND THE DOGS
Since the beginning of the Ukraine war, 130 media organisations have been banned in Russia, and…
CHAIN REACTIONS
What makes a film a classic? Even 50 years after Tobe Hooper's TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE was…
BALOMANIA
Hot air balloons the size of blocks of houses, colourfully illustrated with saints or motifs from…
MADE IN ETHIOPIA
20,000 people work in a Chinese-run industrial park not far from Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.…
MOTHER VERA
After a heroin addiction, Vera found her way to God and to a monastery. In a snow-covered…
Look
CAUGHT BY THE TIDES
Jia Zhang-ke is the major cinematic chronicler of modern China. In his latest work, his muse Zhao…
IT'S NOT ME
For an exhibition that ultimately never took place, the Musée Pompidou asked Leos Carax to respond…
GRAND TOUR
Another enchanting cinematic adventure by Portuguese director Miguel Gomes (TABU). Rangoon, Burma,…
GRAND THEFT HAMLET
During the Covid lockdown, actors Sam and Mark spend their time in the virtual world of Grand Theft…
UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE
The best Iranian film ever made by a Canadian. Matthew Rankin (THE TWENTIETH CENTURY) transforms…
PEPE
Probably the first film in history to be narrated by the ghost of a dead hippopotamus. Pepe the…
LOOK SHORT FILMS
The subjects could hardly be more different, but all the films in this programme use existing…
THE SECOND ACT
Florence wants to introduce her father to the man she is madly in love with. But snooty David wants…
REALM OF SATAN
A cheekily devilish humour pervades this film about members of the Church of Satan on both sides of…
VENI VIDI VICI
“I can do anything, I can get away with anything,” businessman Amon Maynardt confesses to a…
Tickets
Program
Accreditation
Top TV
THE MESSIAH
While living in a hotel in the Montserrat mountains for a film project about the patron saint of…
SOVIET JEANS
In the Soviet Republic of Latvia in 1979. Young rock music fan Renars Rubenis is committed to a…
A BETTER PLACE
With the help of an idealistic scientist the mayor of a fictional town launches a spectacular…
WE’RE ON IT, COMRADES!
Ghosts, aliens, monsters … and lots of bureaucracy: The Institute for Paranormal Phenomena…
VON UNS WIRD ES KEINER SEIN
In a small-town school, a video suddenly appears on all the screens in which a whispering voice…
HAPE KERKELING – TOTAL NORMAL
To mark the 60th birthday of the multi-talented satirist, musician and author Hape Kerkeling, the…
ZEIT VERBRECHEN Ep 3
They were like brothers – and then they attacked each other with knives. In keeping with the…
ZEIT VERBRECHEN Ep 1
A chronicle of a collective failure or a chain of unfortunate circumstances? Tim is partying –…
ZEIT VERBRECHEN Ep 4
Earlie, the daughter of a murdered mine owner, is kidnapped in Africa. Her German lover Ralf tries…
ZEIT VERBRECHEN Ep 2
Johnny is “The Panther”, a lovable asshole in his better moments, a psychotically violent criminal…
GERMAN COCAINE COWBOY
In the late 80s Joe Marx was just a violent criminal in a Hamburg prison, when he befriended a…
MORESNET
After 20 years away, Ben returns to his hometown of Moresnet. His youth clique is waiting there,…
NRW Competition
RIEFENSTAHL
How do you approach a woman who throughout her life entrenched herself behind a thicket of legends,…
TRANSAMAZONIA
After surviving a plane crash in the Amazon rainforest as a child, Rebecca is helping her…
SMELL OF BURNT MILK
Three generations of women on a farm in southern Germany in summertime: it’s a time to go swimming…
SEPTEMBER SAYS
Sisters July and September live in their own little world with their own language and their own…
THE OUTRUN
After rehab, Rona returns to Scotland’s windswept Orkney Islands for the first time in more than…
THE DEVIL'S BATH
Austria in the mid-18th century. Agnes, a devout believer, is trapped in a loveless marriage. She…
THE ASSESSMENT
In a future where the Earth is ravaged by climate change, the state decides on every couple’s…
THE FOREST WITHIN
When the emotionally withdrawn student Jan meets the animal rights activist Alice, this opens up a…
THE THIRD BROTHER
What starts out as a research project into the hushed-up death of a grandmother, leads to a complex…
EDGE OF NIGHT
A conscientious lieutenant in the Turkish army is to hand over a soldier to military court. A…
MOSES - 13 STEPS
The numbers are out of this world: 122 consecutive races won, nine years, nine months and nine days…
THE RETURN OF THE PROJECTIONIST
Former projectionist Samid has a dream: he wants to open a movie theatre in his village in the…
POL POT DANCING
In the royal palace of Cambodia, a dancer raises a boy as if he were one of her own children.…
Special Screening
HALTLOS
Martha is pregnant, and her first trip is to the authorities to give the child up for adoption.…
UNCIVILIZED
ZDF, Das kleine Fernsehspiel invites you to a workshop discussion in the presence of the filmmakers…
Showcase: WDR series
From thriller to comedy, radically popular and challengingly innovative: WDR presents a wide range…
ANGEMESSEN ANGRY
Every superhero has a trauma, but rape is rarely one of them. The chambermaid Amelie is the victim…
GOEBBELS AND THE FÜHRER
In these times, as large sections of society can no longer agree even on the facts, this docu-drama…
PERSECUTED – THE SEVEN LIVES OF DANY DATTEL
What a life! Dany Dattel is one of the very few Jewish children to survive Auschwitz. After a…
UFERPARK - GUTE ZEITEN, WILDE ZEITEN
When Hans Joachim “Jo” Gerner began working as a lawyer, one of his early cases took him to…
TATORT KÖLN: COLONIUS
When a former milieu photographer is found dead, the clues point towards a quartet of old friends…
MISTY - THE ERROLL GARNER STORY
Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Aretha Franklin and, more recently, millennial jazz star Laufey –…
DIE UNBEUGSAMEN 2 – GUTEN MORGEN, IHR SCHÖNEN!
Three years ago, DIE UNBEUGSAMEN was a long-running hit in German arthouse cinemas. Now Torsten…
FRIESLAND - STURMMÖWEN
Local police officers Henk and Süher once again have a lot on their plate, when legendary local…
Retrospective
MISTY - THE ERROLL GARNER STORY
Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Aretha Franklin and, more recently, millennial jazz star Laufey –…
Showcase: WDR series
From thriller to comedy, radically popular and challengingly innovative: WDR presents a wide range…
TATORT KÖLN: COLONIUS
When a former milieu photographer is found dead, the clues point towards a quartet of old friends…
UFERPARK - GUTE ZEITEN, WILDE ZEITEN
When Hans Joachim “Jo” Gerner began working as a lawyer, one of his early cases took him to…
UNCIVILIZED
ZDF, Das kleine Fernsehspiel invites you to a workshop discussion in the presence of the filmmakers…
PERSECUTED – THE SEVEN LIVES OF DANY DATTEL
What a life! Dany Dattel is one of the very few Jewish children to survive Auschwitz. After a…
ANGEMESSEN ANGRY
Every superhero has a trauma, but rape is rarely one of them. The chambermaid Amelie is the victim…
DIE UNBEUGSAMEN 2 – GUTEN MORGEN, IHR SCHÖNEN!
Three years ago, DIE UNBEUGSAMEN was a long-running hit in German arthouse cinemas. Now Torsten…
FRIESLAND - STURMMÖWEN
Local police officers Henk and Süher once again have a lot on their plate, when legendary local…
GOEBBELS AND THE FÜHRER
In these times, as large sections of society can no longer agree even on the facts, this docu-drama…
HALTLOS
Martha is pregnant, and her first trip is to the authorities to give the child up for adoption.…
Conferences and parties
European Series Day
Every year, the European Series Day in Cooperation with ifs Internationale Filmschule Köln,…
Global Day. Stories for Change
The Global Day. Stories for Change connects the media industry with development policy actors to…
Netzwerktreffen Benelux Meets NRW
Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and North Rhine-Westphalia, with their 47 million inhabitants,…
MGZ Summit Fast Forward
Fair contracts, the dismantling of toxic structures and, in the midst of it all, the fight for…
European Work in Progress Cologne
European Work In Progress Cologne presents around 30 selected international film projects currently…
International Film Distribution Summit
The cinema industry is undergoing fundamental change. How can independent film distributors find…
Meals4Monologues
As part of FILM FESTIVAL COLOGNE 2024, the actors' union BFFS and Filmmakers Europe are organising…
NRW-Produzenten laden ein
NRW shines with a lively film landscape that produces creatively and technically at a high level.…
Screenwriters’ Lounge
The Screenwriters' Lounge, an initiative of the Deutscher Drehbuch Verband (DDV), will also be…
Fokus Filmpolitik
Autumn of decisions - finally also for the funding reform?It has been 20 months since Minister of…
Interview Highlights
Interviews
FFQ&A
Film
"Most people are more afraid of losing their mind than of dying."
Pop Culture
Film
"Every interview is a falsification"
FFQ&A
Society
“We have to mobilize – our liberty is at stake”
Film
FFQ&A
"It was important to us to be as real as possible."
FFQ&A
Film
"I'm afraid of the end of the world."
Artist Talk
Awards
Film
"There are many things hiding beneath the surface …"
Interview
FFQ&A
"In the end, he didn't give up and that speaks for him."
Interview
FFQ&A
Film
"You can't please everyone."
Interview
FFQ&A
»Ich interessiere mich für Machtstrukturen.«
Ffcgn 2023
Interview
"This movie is not intended to give a comforting answer."
Interview
FFQ&A
Ffcgn 2023
"For me, making films is the desire to share emotions."
FFQ&A
Interview
»Das Leben ist manchmal nicht aushaltbar.«
FFQ&A
Interview
Ffcgn 2023
“There is not one truth, you know.”
Interview
FFQ&A
Awards
Film
"The great ones are incredibly daring."
Interview
FFQ&A
"A cow or a pig, that's simply too big."
Interview
FFQ&A
Awards
Film
“I want my films to elevate me."
Interview
Pop Culture
FFQ&A
Film
"Let it happen!"
FFCGN 2022
Interview
Awards
Film
"Behind every joke, there's a story."
FFQ&A
Interview
Film
»Ich bin ein Straßenköter.«
Interview
FFQ&A
Film
"Cinema is emotion, I am an emotion juggler"
Interview
FFQ&A
Society
Film
“The essence of filmmaking is the visual image”
Bright New Talents
Interview
Bright New Talents
Film
"I have removed doubt from my life."
Interview
Bright New Talents
Awards
Film
"In the end, it's about the money."
Interview
Bright New Talents
Film
"We worked our arses off hardcore."
Interview
Bright New Talents
Society
"We need to step out of our comfort zone."
Maria Popov - Journalist and presenterAnyone critical of trigger warnings and safe space debates…
Interview
Bright New Talents
Film
"We simply do it for our people."
Bright New Talents
Film
"Britney Spears' video ... was an emancipatory act!"
Crime stories
True Crime
Pop Culture
The true crime genre and its killer features
True Crime
Quiz
Pop Culture
Play a detective and solve the case!
True Crime
Fast Forward Original
Film
Trailer for a bloody film that could be coming soon
True Crime
Society
A genre is booming: The lust for crime
True Crime
Best of
Film
The most captivating True Crime movies on the big screen
True Crime
Quiz
Pop Culture
Our True Crime Fact Check
True Crime
Pop Culture
True Crime online: Anatomy of a shot to the head
True Crime
Best of
Trend
Killing time with the best True Crime Podcasts
Fake
Film
The most ingenious impostors in popculture
Conspiracy myths
Conspiracy
Quiz
Society
Which conspiracy suits you?
Conspiracy
Society
The pigeons are not what they seem
Conspiracy
Society
How do you build a conspiracy?
Conspiracy
Stream
Pop Culture
The best SOUTH PARK Conspiracies
Conspiracy
Fast Forward Original
Film
How the streaming services invented corona
Conspiracy
Society
"The production of reality is highly competitive"
Conspiracy
Society
Video essay on the origins of Q
Conspiracy
Society
Watch Out: The Great Conspiracy
Conspiracy
Pop Culture
This series turns the world upside down
Conspiracy
Pop Culture
John Oliver's Creme Egg Conspiracy
Fake
Society
Trend
No original without a fake, no fake without an original
"Every interview is a falsification"
Bleib immer up to date:
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