The two ifs graduation films »El Mártir« and »Long Time No See« from the ifs Internationale Filmschule Köln will celebrate their premiere at the 45th Max Ophüls Preis Film Festival (22.-28.01.2024).

Funded by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, the drama »El Mártir« will have its world premiere in the medium-length film competition and compete with 10 other films for the jury prize and an audience award. The drama »Long Time No See« is competing with a further 22 entries for the jury prize for the best short film and an audience award.
The awards in both competitions are endowed with 5,000 euros each.

In »El Mártir« (director: Alejandro Mathé, script: Alejandro Mathé, Jose Alberto Arias Pereira, producer: Anna Weber, DoP: Zoe Dumas, production design: Luca Wirtz, editing & sound design: Leo Muheim), a young man in the summer heat of a small Andalusian village explores his sexuality through the half-naked figure of Jesus Christ. Elías not only feels aroused by the images of Jesus and the martyrs, he wants to be like them. In order to get closer to God, he begins to develop a masochistic tendency that increasingly determines his life.
»El Mártir« has already been nominated for the First Steps Award 2023 in the medium-length feature film category and for the Michael Ballhaus Award.

In »Long Time No See« (director: Pauline Schläger, script: Julius Nerlich, Pauline Schläger, idea: Jana Thüring, Julius Nerlich, Pauline Schläger, producer: Julius Nerlich, DoP: Marcel Reiter, editing & sound Design: Ivan Kolesov, production design: Kira Thönnes), Silvia (55) returns to her office job after a long illness. While she is happy to see her colleagues again, she realises that her log-in no longer works - Silvia is no longer in the system.
The film has already screened internationally at the PÖFF SHORTS of the Black Nights Film Festival Tallinn 2023 in the short film competition.

In addition to the two ifs films, numerous productions with the participation of ifs alumni can also be seen at the Max Ophüls Preis film festival:
The short film competition features the film »Insomnia« by alumna Su-Jin Song (writer, director, producer), in which numerous other ifs alumni have participated, including Fabian Klein as DoP, Friederike Dörffler as editor, Jascha Viehl as sound designer and Jo Müller as VFX producer.
In the feature film competition, the films »Manchmal denke ich plötzlich an dich« (rough cut: Friederike Dörffler), »Milchzähne« (producer: Jakob Weydemann) and »Der Wald in mir« (cast: alumnus Leonard Grobien) are competing for the award for the festival's best feature film.
Alumnus Christian Zipfel directed »The Soil of the Namib: Dreams«, which is part of the Saarlorlux series, as well as »The Soil of the Namib: VR«.
The series »WatchMe«, which Christian Zipfel was responsible for editing, can be seen in the MOP series. Four episodes of the series »Made in Germany«, for which alumnus Duc-Thi Bui was part of the writing team, are also shown there.
The series »Echt Friends«, directed by ifs alumnus Thuy Trang Nguyen (together with Koku Musebeni and Joya Thome), is shown in the children's and youth film series.
Alumna Kim Hausner was responsible for the camera for the short film »Melodies of Barking Dogs«. It is being shown in the short film series Atelier Ludwigsburg-Paris.

The Max Ophüls Preis film festival is one of the most renowned platforms for up-and-coming filmmakers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. This year, 58 films will be shown in the four competition categories of feature film, documentary, medium-length film and short film.