A seven-month mentoring & residency program, Munich Film Up! is an initiative of the HFF München, with Tatino Films’ Pop Up Film Residency as exclusive content partner. The Bavaria-originated initiative is run in association with the Filmschoolfest Munich, and with the exclusive financial support of the Kirch Foundation, including the 5 000 Euros cash prize for the winning project.
Co-directed by Matthieu Darras and Elena Diesbach, with Ivana Hucikova and Antonia Lindner as program co-managers, Munich Film Up! is designed to support six emerging filmmakers (fresh film school graduates) each year, developing their professional feature-length debuts. The program offers an individual plan, tailor made to meet the participants’ specific needs in order to reach the first draft of their scripts. For the duration of the program, filmmakers are mentored by renowned and experienced international industry professionals.
The 4th edition of the program consists of 3 main parts:
– The program will kick off in Munich on the 19th of November 2024 with a 5-day workshop at the HFF München during the Filmschoolfest Munich.
– Each participant then benefits from a 3-week-long Pop Up Film Residency taking place in one of the residences of the network in February 2025. Hosts of these residencies include well-known producers.
– Participants will meet again in Cannes during the film festival in May 2025 in order to present their film projects to industry representatives. One of the 6 presented projects will be awarded the Kirch Foundation Award.
FILMSCHOOLFEST MUNICH BRINGS TOGETHER EXCEPTIONAL YOUNG FILM TALENT FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Munich Film Up! kicks off at the 43rd Filmschoolfest Munich. The participants will present their projects for the first time, exchange feedback and their experiences with each other, receive comments and useful advice as well as engage with colleagues from other film schools, and take part in masterclasses and workshops.
Introducing the participants of the 4th edition of Munich Film Up!:
Aizada Amangeldy, Kyrgyzstan, VGIK
Project: 18th Birthday
Max Bungarten, Germany, HFF München
Project: Bumper Cars
Chheangkea Ieng, Cambodia/USA, NYU
Project: Little Phnom Penh
Cristina Iliescu, Romania, UNATC
Project: Nothing Sadder than a Limo
Jakub Jirasek, Czech Republic, FAMU
Project: The Delivery
Hanna Stock, Germany, HFF München
Project: Delulu
Selected amongst entries from more than 40 different countries, the six participants come from Cambodia/USA, Czech Republic, Kyrgyzstan, and Romania – with two German participants being HFF München students.
While previous editions of the program distinguished female filmmakers, with the Kirch Foundation Award going to Cameroonian Cyrielle Raingou, Chinese Viv Li and Lebanese Leila Basma, once again the 4th edition of the program brings together a unique and very diverse group of talented filmmakers:
- Aizada Amangeldy is a dramaturgist, producer, director, and a queer feminist activist from Kyrgyzstan. With her project titled 18th Birthday, Aizada draws inspiration from her own experience with challenges, obstacles and first love as she tells the story of what it feels like to be a queer Muslim teenage girl.
- An HFF München student of production and directing, Maximilian Bungarten, was nominated for the Best Queer Short award at the Clermont-Ferrand 2023 festival with his acclaimed short The Age of Innocence. Max’s debut film Bumper Cars takes place in the outskirts of Cologne and centers around themes of queer love, friendship and loss.
- A Phnom Penh-born filmmaker, currently based in Brooklyn, Chheangkea Ieng is an NYU graduate who seeks to showcase the complexities and colors of queer and Cambodian stories through his work. With his debut, Little Phnom Penh, Chheangkea pays tribute to the history of his family and the Cambodian American community as well.
- A Bucharest-based Romanian experimental filmmaker Cristina Iliescu is a PhD candidate at UNATC, writing their dissertation on the impact of the internet and generative AI on experimental cinema. Nothing Sadder than a Limo, their debut film, is a wild ride through the BTS experience of an assistant director working a reality dating show in Phuket.
- With his short film Don’t Be a Pussy Jakub Jirásek, a Czech writer, director and musician, was shortlisted for the BAFTA Student Award in 2020. Currently developing his first feature The Delivery, Jakub focuses on generational gaps, societal expectations and socio-economic disparities with a comedic twist.
- Hanna Stock, a screenwriting student at the HFF München, introduces with her debut project Delulu a coming-of-age movie set in a small Bavarian village that revolves around the blurred lines of consent and explores the need for validation.