We interviewed Anselm Diehl, founder and festival director of the upcoming International Film Festival Cologne whose first edition will be running on September 11th and 12th.
The International Film Festival Cologne is a brand-new event started by Anselm Diehl with whom we were lucky to talk about the challenges of creating such ambitious show from scratch.
“We’re making our way towards a filmmaker-oriented film festival.”
By creating the IFFC, you are joining a large network of film festivals in Germany and in Europe: what specific identity do you want to build for the IFFC? In other words, what’s your ambition for the brand-new International Film Festival Cologne?
The Idea behind the IFFC’s concept is very basic since we are missing this kind of film festival in Cologne. Cologne has a population of 1 million people and considers itself a “media city“, so for me it was obvious that we needed a film festival in town, like the IFFC. When I mean that the IFFC relies on a basic concept, I mean that we are opened for submissions from all over the world via Film Freeway, we have Categories from Short Film to Web Series and we are creating an event that hopefully inspires and connects people. Building a festival on a basic concept also means creating an event with guests and international artists that is tangible for the visitors. In the beginning, the Identity wasn’t really clear, but I feel like that we’re making our way towards a filmmaker-orientated film festival. We have lectures and Creator Talks that mainly focus on topics which are industry related, like “How to go through the casting process?“, “How we sold our Web Series to Amazon“, “The evolution of music videos over the last decades“ etc. Furthermore, some of our sponsors are in the film industry, like Equipment Rentals and Manufacturers, or companies that offer certain services. And in Addition to that, the whole Jury includes 16 industry professionals, of which some have won Germany’s most important awards themselves.
“We contacted hundreds of companies, 7 of them are our sponsors now.”
What where the key steps in setting up your first edition? How did you assemble your team? How did you get sponsors onboard?
The most important thing was the concept. It was the concept that made people join our Jury or take part in other ways. They liked the very basic idea of this new film festival in Cologne. The team consists of people I know and work with, but also of people that responded to our job listings. They are all very passionate and we do it all voluntarily. Getting Sponsors was very tough. We contacted hundreds of companies, 7 of them are our sponsors now. And Corona didn’t make it easier. But we are more than happy about our sponsors and the collaborations are great.
What were your impressions on the films you received? And how did you organize the selection process?
I was really impressed by the fact that the submitted projects came from 46 different countries. There were a lot of high end, very emotional and brilliant films and choosing only 5 out of every category wasn’t easy at all. Regarding the selection process, after all projects were submitted, a preselection was made. It was very clear, which projects could compete with one another and which projects couldn’t. This is a very tough step, but somehow you have to create a smaller selection. The preselected films got presented to our “expert jury“.
Every category has 2-6 Jury members that are experts on the category’s topic. They watch the preselection and independently rate the projects. In the next step all ratings are put together and, for example, the top 7-9 films get discussed. From there on we have to figure out which of these should be nominated and finally, which one will win. This is a point where sometimes rationality has to be left behind and the emotional experience of the film is important.
Can you mention 3 titles included in the program that should spark the audience’s curiosity?
Closet (feature film) is a brilliant film that everybody should watch! It’s from Japan and tells the story of a man who starts working in a “cuddle“ company. It’s a very emotional journey, definitely worth watching. I’d also recommend watching World Taxi, a brilliant documentary following the lives of 5 taxi drivers in 5 different countries, and Tomatic, a hilariously and brilliantly produced short film from France.
Explore the full program of the IFFC here.
Can you tell us about the event itself: what will be the venues, what are the different categories of films, how do the different competitions work?
All projects will be screened in our great main venue, the Cinenova Kino Köln, but we’ll also have food trucks, drinks and more cool things in the Cinemas Outdoor area. This will be the “Chill-Out-Area“ for the visitors to relax between the screenings. I wanted to create a film festival that I’d love to got to myself. So I cared a lot about the venues, the interior design and the atmosphere. In addition to the Cinenova, the Kulturkirche Ost is our second venue, where more projects will be screened. It’s a beautiful modern church built in the 60’s. The 8 Categories range from Feature Film and Short Film to Web Series and Music Video. The Idea is to present all kinds of storytelling to our audience and to give filmmakers the opportunity to display all kinds of works.
On top of the film screenings, the festival program includes many exciting happenings such as talks, networking opportunities, parties, live music and so on. To your eyes, what should be the function of a film festival? And how do you expect the atmosphere to be?
I cannot generally speak for other festivals, but for me this is how I imagine a great film festival: watching other people’s art and getting inspired by it, networking with other people from your region, getting to know filmmakers from other countries and learning not only by watching other people’s films but also by listening to them about what they have to say (the creator talks). On top of that, I want it to be a very relaxed event. This is why we created the chill-out-area. So people can stay at the venue and talk with other filmmakers while waiting for the next screening. As you mentioned we also have live bands. This is because I want to create a richness of culture. Why not get a few artists play their songs to the visitors while they have a drink? Overall, it’s supposed to be a very inspiring event.
What were the main challenges you ended up facing as you set up this first ever edition, that you had not necessarily anticipated?
Nobody knew who we were, of course, and giving people an idea of what it’s going to be like was one of the hardest parts. We don’t have pictures from last year, there was no IFFC, we had nothing. The concept, the idea, was everything I had. But it was enough to start. And I believe it to be this way in filmmaking too.
We are one month away from the event, which is generally a time of big rush for any festival organization! Can you describe this mix of excitement and pressure among your team right now?
“Mix of excitement and pressure“ describes it very well! Excited, that it finally happens but of course there’s a lot of pressure. But not necessarily more than in the last couple of months. In comparison, I’m actually quite relaxed right now as everything is “safe“. Now, it’s about all the details.
Finally, where can we buy tickets for the festival?
Tickets are available our Film Freeway and for more information you can visit our website or check out our Instagram page.
