11mm Football Film Festival sets a new attendance record!

“The Other Chelsea“ wins the Audience Award: the Golden 11

Even Sepp Maier was overwhelmed: “They are all totally crazy! So much interest for a film that is already 22 years old!” Maier’s video diary of the 1990 World Cup “We are the Champions”, which opened the 9th edition of the International Football Film Festival 11mm, attracted over 1000 guests to Cinema Babylon for two sold-out screenings alone on the first night. Close to 100 journalists turned the world premiere of the documentary into an international media event.

Sepp Maier was unsuccessful, however, in his bid to add the 11mm audience award, the “Golden 11“, to his World Cup medal from 1974. Instead, the award was secured by the Berlin director Jakob Preuss with his documentary “The Other Chelsea” about the relationships between politics, society and football in the Ukrainian industrial city Donetsk. It was a double victory for Preuss – on the same day as receiving the 11mm award he was announced as the winner of the Grimme Prize, Germany’s most important television prize, for his impressive film about the easternmost host city of the EURO 2012. Jakob Preuss commented “Until now I always thought that football enthusiasts didn’t like my film that much. I am therefore delighted to have won the audience award at 11mm, the Football Film Festival!”

The 11mm shortkicks prize went this year to Barcelona. The winning short film “L’equipe petit” by Roger Gomez & Dani Resines portrays a thoroughly unsuccessful children’s football team that proved themselves to be the big winners on Berlin’s silver screen. After achieving an enourmous amount of views with their film online, the two directors were particularly pleased that the short film was such a hit on the big screen.

After five full days, the festival organisers can look back on a highly successful festival. Over 4000 guests attended over 50 films from over 20 countries. This year’s edition of the International Football Film Festival 11mm, which was presented by the German Football Association’s Cultural Foundation, hosted numerous directors, actors and protagonists. And one needn’t worry about the next generation of football film fans. The first ever International Football Film Festival for Children and Youth, supported by the Robert Bosch Foundation, was attended by over 900 pupils over five mornings.

The lure of football and film once again attracted plenty of stars to 11mm. Guests included Sepp Maier (World Cup champion), Heribert Fassbender (legendary football presenter for German television), Marco Bode (World Cup runner-up), Marco Rehmer (World Cup runner-up), Maik Franz (Hertha BSC), Dominic Peitz (Hansa Rostock) and Thomas Gottschalk (German entertainer).

The 11mm organising team can now look forward to the next editions of the football film festival. In the framework of the upcoming European Championships the highlights of 11mm 2012 will be shown at the end of May in Wroclaw, Poland and during the EURO 2012 in June in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

Fotos © Doro Tuch / www.raumradar.de / Stefanie Lamm / textilvergehen.de

The Festival Programme for 11mm 2012 is Announced

Close to 150 football films were submitted from around the world for inclusion in the 9th edition of 11mm, the International Football Film Festival. More than 50 have now been selected and will be screened between March 9th and 13th 2012 at Cinema Babylon in Berlin. The complete festival programme is now available, where football film fans can also purchase tickets for the festival.



The world’s leading football film festival will kick off on Friday March 9th with “We are the Champions”, the legendary German goalkeeper and coach Sepp Maier’s video diary of the 1990 World Cup. Spectators can look forward to never before screened images shot from inside the World Cup winning squad.

World Premiere of Sepp Maier’s 1990 World Cup Video Diary

11 mm – 9th International Football Film Festival in Berlin, 9-13 March 2012

Presented by the German Football Association’s Cultural Foundation, the ninth edition of 11mm, the International Football Film Festival from Berlin, begins on March 9th 2012 with a world premiere: Sepp Maier, former German national goalkeeper and World Cup winner, opens his private archive over two decades after Germany’s victory at the 1990 World Cup in Italy. Until this moment the videos shot by Sepp Maier during the tournament have only been seen by a select group of national team players and German Football Association officials.

Unique footage from the team hotel, team bus, changing rooms and excursions during the tournament invite viewers on an intimate journey through time that is crowned by Germany’s victory in the final over Argentina. Sepp Maier – cameraman and director in one – will present this fascinating historical document together with fellow former national team players at the opening of 11mm.

With the European Championships in Poland and the Ukraine fast approaching, both countries will be in the festival’s focus. To kick things off, the short film by Polish director Kornel Miglus “Wasserschlacht von Frankfurt” (The Frankfurt Water Fight) will be screened on the opening night – again featuring Sepp Maier in a leading role.

As in years past there will be two prizes up for grabs at 11mm: the Golden 11 audience prize for the most loved feature, documentary or children’s film as well as 11mm Shortkicks for the best football short film of the year, presented at the Shortkicks gala on the closing evening of the festival.

Background:
11mm began in 2004 with a series of 11 British football films. The International Football Film Festival now screens around 50 feature, documentary and short films from across the world. Since 2009, the Berlin festival has been followed by a tour to other cities in Germany. 11mm is organised by Brot und Spiele e.V., the Berlin club for sport and culture, and is presented by the German Football Association’s Cultural Foundation.

11mm – 9th International Football Film Festival

Between 9 and 13 March, the 9th edition of "11mm - The International Football Film Festival" will take place in Berlin. As in past years, "Brot & Spiele e.V.", the club for sports and culture, will screen up to 50 fiction, documentary and children's films dealing with football.

In the year of the Euro 2012, the festival will focus on the following topics: "Football in Poland and the Ukraine", "International Novelties" and, for the third time, "Football Films for Children and Youth".

The best films will be awarded with two prizes: the "Golden 11" for the best fiction or documentary film and "11mm shortkicks" for the best short film.

As a premiere, after the festival in Berlin, the organizers will present excerpts from their programme on a "11mm Roadshow".

The complete programme and all information on 11mm 2012 will be available by the end of February under www.11-mm.de.

What? 11mm – 9th International Football Film Festival
When? 9 – 13 March 2012
Where? Cinema Babylon Berlin:Mitte
Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße 30
10178 Berlin
Germany
Phone +49 (0) 30 24727-801
www.babylonberlin.de