Toytown Germany

Tickets are now available for the 22nd Filmfest München running from June 26 through July 3. This year boasts the presentation of over 190 films from 35 countries, most in their original version and many either in original English or with English subtitles.

Peter Webber's Girl with a Pearl Earring starring Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson, is this years opening film. About the events leading to the famous painting of the same name by Dutch master Jan Vermeer (1632-1675), this film was nominated for several Academy Awards. Other original english-language productions come from the International Program featuring 61 films by such acclaimed directors as John Sayles, Irwin Winkler, Martin Scorsese and Mike Figgis. ...

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The twenty films by American Independents are representative of the state of the art of non-mainstream American filmmakers. From the critical, Academy Award winning documentary The Fog of War by cult director Errol Morris and Jehane Noujaim's controversial Control Room to Jim Jarmusch's zany Coffee and Cigarettes and two superb new films on surfing, Riding Giants and Step into Liquid, the section is as invigorating as ever.

The Retrospective is dedicated to the Kaurismäki brothers, Aki and Mika, and consists of 45 films, among them early works such as Aki's The Liar (1981) and Mika's Calamari Union (1985). It also features many of their works in English or with english subtitles.

One of the major focal points of this year's Filmfest is the section New Asian Cinema, a look at the Asian Indies: 10 films by young directors from China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand. All are shown with english subtitles.

Looking for some music in movies? This year features a documentary on one of the world's most popular heavy metal groups (Metallica - Some Kind of Monster), a star-studded feature film tribute to the legendary Cole Porter (De-Lovely), and a brilliant, low budget, almost true, dark comedy about a friendship, dead rock stars and reckless gestures (Grand Theft Parsons).

A highlight of this year's festival is the CineMerit award, given to the individual who has made extraordinary contributions to motion pictures as an art form, which goes to internationally acclaimed british director Alan Parker. Six of his films, including Midnight Express, The Commitments and The Life of David Gale will be featured in their original versions at the festival.

For additional film information or to select a film based on language, date or title, see the Timetable at the festival's website.

Adult ticket prices range from €4.50-€8.00 and can be purchased at filmfest-muenchen.de, thus saving you 50 cents per ticket, or in person beginning June 19 at the Gasteig. Tickets purchased online can however only be picked up on either Saturday June 19 or 26. They will not be mailed to you.

What you didn't mention is that there are 6 Surfing films playing in the Open air at Gasteig for FREE!!! 22:00 one an evening for 6 evenings from 26.06.04 onwards.

Cooooooool!!

You might want to correct the last line about ticket pick-up. Tickets purchased online can also be picked up daily (June 19 to 25) between 10h and 20h at Gasteig Ground Floor. See this page: Tickets Bestellen

Now the tickets can be picked up daily, but as of publish date of this article, you could only pick them up on the dates specified! The English and German translations were different and now apparently corrected.