Simone Baumann is working in the film production for more than a quarter of a century, and she has produced countless documentaries and feature films. In April 2019 Simone Baumann was appointed as the Managing Director of German Films, the national information and advisory centre for the promotion of German films worldwide (first established in 1954). This year we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the organisation, and the so the UK’s favourite indie film festival has decided to shine the light on German film, with a special selection of German movies, a masterclass with Christian Friedel. He is the protagonist of Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest (2023) and Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon (2009). You can read our exclusive interview with the 45-year-old German actor here.

Victor Fraga and Simone Baumann talked the biggest achievements of German cinema in the past 70 years, the funding system, the relationship with Britain (bursting well-worn myths of rivalry), what film lovers should expect to see next, and much more.

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Victor Fraga – Welcome to the UK, and congratulations for your 70th anniversary! Raindance’s Guest Country this year is Germany. How often have British institutions celebrated German cinema?

Simone Baumann – To be honest, I don’t know. I’ve been in the position of Managing Director of German Films since 2019. Back then, we screened some films with our Face to Face with German Films talent – our campaign to introduce a new wave of German cinema successes to international audiences and showcase exceptional German talent worldwide. By the way, another one of our Face to Face talents will be screened at Raindance in London this year: Mona Cathleen Otterbach, a German production designer, will be holding an exclusive masterclass at the film festival. But be that as it may… apart from these screenings, there has not been a closer collaboration with a British institution in the last 10 years or even longer.

VF – What does your organisation count amongst its biggest achievements in its seven decades of existence?

SB – Despite several Oscars and Oscar nominations as well as awards at major international festivals, the biggest achievement is that German cinema and German filmmakers have become much better known to an international audience. We have many directors and actors who not only work for international projects, but also represent German film. I’m talking about people like Wim Wenders, Christian Schwochow or Sandra Hüller – to name just a few. Fortunately, there are now some internationally renowned and successful Germans from the film industry.

VF – Any interesting anecdotes or stories in Britain? Are there any notable British-German co-productions?

SB – Spontaneously, the movie about the German goalkeeper Trautmann comes to mind – international title The Keeper (Marcus H. Rosenmüller, 2018). Coincidentally, this fits in with the European Football Championship currently taking place in Germany. The biopic about the German goalkeeper, who became a hero after a legendary game in England, was in the Bafta race up to a certain point and has won awards both in Germany and internationally as a German-British-Irish co-production.

We also currently have the German-British co-production Falling into Place, the directorial debut of German filmmaker Aylin Tezel. The film celebrated its world premiere last year in Tallinn, where it won the Fipresci Award, and now Aylin will be presenting her film in person at Raindance.

VF – Do you have any interesting facts and figures to hand? For example, how many German films get international distribution every year, and how many reach the UK market?

SB – In 2023, 524 German productions and co-productions were shown in international cinemas worldwide. With 18.8 million viewers, this resulted in a turnover of € 121 million. 59 of these titles were screened in cinemas in the UK and Ireland, generating sales of €3.7 million with 400,000 viewers.

The international figures are quite good. But we sell rather little to the UK and Ireland. Last year, three German productions – Anselm [Wim Wenders, 2023], Afire [Christian Petzold] and Seaside Special [Jens Meurer] – received distribution support from us for this territory. So there is still room for improvement.

VF – Raindance and German Films have put the spotlight on Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or winning The White Ribbon. In my view, this is a movie about extreme educational doctrine, and how this helped to create a fertile ground for Nazism. Do you share this opinion? Please tell us the reasons behind this film choice. 

SB – The White Ribbon won two Oscars in 2010 (Best International Feature Film and Best Cinematography) and the film sold very well worldwide. For our 70th anniversary of German Films, we asked Alfred Holighaus, a development executive and producer at Real Film in Berlin and Nordfilm in Kiel with an extensive knowledge of German cinema, to curate a programme of some of the best internationally successful German films of the last 70 years. And of course, The White Ribbon is one of those films. We thought it would be a good idea to present it at Raindance as part of our 70th anniversary program – also because we wanted to invite Christian Friedel, who played the lead role in this film, to London.

VF – Please allow me to be a little provocative. Our writer Eoghan Lyng described the previously mentioned Falling Into Place, a German film largely set in London about the romance between a British man and a German woman, as “a love story based on guilt and unfulfilled desire”. Do you think that this description also extends to the relationship between Germany and the UK. You can read Eoghan’s five-splat (star) review here.

SB – No, I don’t think so. Of course, there are various historical themes such as the bombing of Dresden (I come from East Germany) – but there has also always been a great deal of German interest in Great Britain and vice versa. With films, it’s also a question of language – British films are English-language – so there’s always a bigger market for them than for German-language films. The UK is also a difficult market for German films. I think Brexit is probably the biggest problem in our relationship today. The UK no longer participates in EU programs – which is crucial for co-productions, festivals et cetera. So, we have to find another way of working together.

VF – When you celebrate “70 years of German Film”, this naturally refers to the anniversary of your organisation. On the other hand, it also gives the impression that Germany wants to dissociate itself from the movies made before then. Is this intentional? Should the films of Murnau, Riefenstahl, Schuenzel and Detlef Sierck remain confined to another era?

SB – No, that is not the intention and the film programme is only related to the anniversary of the organisation, which was founded in 1954. Of course, the films of the ’20s, ’30s and ’40s of the 20th century are also part of German film culture. Nobody wants to “cancel” them!

VF – The Zone of Interest is a British-American-Polish production. Is there any reason Germany is not listed amongst the production countries?

SB – I don’t think there is any particular reason, and I assume that the producers were able to cover the budget with money from the UK, the US and Poland. Unfortunately, the German funding system is old-fashioned and slow, and to this day there are no tax incentives. This makes it not very attractive for foreign producers. Hopefully the situation will change from 2025 with a new film law, accompanied by an investment obligation for TV and streaming services and a tax incentive.

VF – What is your message for lovers of German cinema worldwide? Should they expect more German films in the years to come, and where should they look?

SB – That’s definitely a yes!!! There are still some good films to come and please keep your eyes open for our new German talents. We have an interesting generation of young German filmmakers. You will see their films in Karlovy Vary, Locarno and Toronto in 2024. We already know the line-up for Karlovy Vary, for example Xoftex by Noaz Deshe, a drama about two young asylum seekers in a Greek refugee camp, will be screened in the Crystal Globe Competition. Or the drama The Alienated by Anja Kreis, which will be shown in the other competition section Proxima Competition. We can look forward to these films and many more this year.

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Simone is pictured on her own at the top of this article, and alongside Christian Friedel in the middle.