Which way to Hollywood?
Movies made in Germany: German film schools have already produced many talents and international award-winning films. Starting for success in the film sector.
Germany. Writing, shooting, editing, marketing – many people dream of becoming a filmmaker. Film schools, universities and private institutions are training the newcomers. Meanwhile, there is even a grammar school focusing on film.
Babelsberger Filmgymnasium
The Babelsberger Filmgymnasium is unique in Germany: it is designed for students who are fascinated by film from the seventh grade up. In addition to bilingual classes in German and English, students choose their own special areas in dance, theatre, drama or film. And they learn all of the techniques they will need in the film sector. One of the school’s graduates has already made a breakthrough. Tristan Göbel, who was born in 2002, played the leading role as 14-year-old Maik Klingenberg in the 2016 feature film Goodbye Berlin directed by Fatih Akin.
Film Academy Baden-Württemberg
Learning by doing is the recipe for success at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. More than 300 experts from the film and media industry accompany the 500 students. Around 250 films in all genres are made by teams each year, and they regularly win prizes. The Institute for Animation, Visual Effects and Digital Postproduction was established at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg in 2002. The film academy is strong on internationality. It has partnerships with films schools in the USA, Argentina, France, Canada, Poland, Lebanon, South Africa and Israel. In 2015 the trade magazine Hollywood Reporter named the Film Academy as one of the best film schools around the world.
University of Television and Film Munich
The University of Television and Film (HFF) in Munich is one of the most prestigious film schools in the German-speaking area. It offers five different study programmes and aims to create new impulses in Germany’s filmmaking scene. 1,800 students have already graduated from here, including world-famous directors such as Wim Wenders, Roland Emmerich, Caroline Link, Bernd Eichinger, Doris Dörrie and Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. Films from the HFF regularly receive awards. The film Toni Erdmann by HFF graduates Maren Ade (screenplay and directing) and Janine Jackowski (production) received the European Film Award 2016 and was nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Language Film 2017. The Social Spot Moonjourney by student Chiara Grabmayr, which tells the story of a refugee’s escape from Syria as a journey to the moon, received the German Advertising Film Award in March 2017.
Deutsche Film und Fernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB)
Small but excellent, this is the Deutsche Film und Fernsehakademie Berlin in a nutshell. Only 34 students are accepted each year. Training at the DFFB focuses on the foundations of filmmaking – screenplay, directing, cinematography and production – and the school takes particular care to ensure that the young filmmakers develop their own signatures during their studies. This film school is also included in the Hollywood Reporter’s list of the 15 best film schools around the world.
More film schools
- The Internationale Filmschule Köln (ifs) was founded in Cologne as a non-profit corporation in 2000 on the initiative of the North Rhine-Westphalia state government and the NRW Film and Media Foundation.
- Hamburg Media School has offered an MA in filmmaking since 2011.
- Babelsberg Film School, better known as the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf (HFF). It is one of the most modern and largest film schools in Germany and was the first German film school to gain university status in 2014.
24th Festival of Animated Film in Stuttgart from 2 to 7 May 2017
