New ECFA member: Festival Augenblick

Founded in 2005, the French film festival Augenblick is dedicated to German-speaking cinema. Initiated by the Alsace Cinémas network every year, in November, the festival brings together all independent cinemas (35 locations) in the French Alsace region. In the programme are approximately 30 films in their original versions. It is the aim of the festival to let the audience discover the culture and language of German-speaking countries through a filmmakers perspective.

The heart of the festival is its competition: six films from Germany, Austria or Switzerland, supported by the filmmakers meeting the audience. Prizes are handed out by the jury, the audience and the young audience (15-20 years old).

Augenblick is a yearly highlight for teachers: the festival’s Youth Film section offers them quality titles suited for audiences from kindergarten to high school and provides them with materials to feed and fuel film discussions. Covering the entire Alsace region, the festival enables classes to discover unreleased films in their own local cinema. Every edition, filmmakers make the effort of meeting high school pupils to discuss films both in the cinema or at school.

Events, retrospectives and masterclasses etc. create an even broader profile for a festival that won’t stop growing, with currently over 40,000 spectators yearly. Augenblick endeavours to arise, maintain and satisfy the audience’s curiosity and interest for cinema and for the German language.
The 14th edition of the festival will take place from 6–23rd November 2018.

All information about Festival Augenblick can be found on the website.