German films in Berlin to include Lutter's The Education

The following films have been selected so far:

Dígame – Tell me (Dígame -Sag mir), dir. Josephine Frydetzki
The Education (Die Ausbildung), dir. Dirk Lütter
Ice Flowers (Eisblumen), dir. Susan Gordanshekan
Lollipop Monster, dir. Ziska Riemann
Vaterlandsverräter, dir. Annekatrin Hendel (documentary)
you know the park is filled with flowers (weisst du eigentlich dass ganz viele blumen blühen im park),dir. Lothar Herzog

The rest of the programme will be announced in mid-January.

Lutter’s The Education is about a trainee struggling with new opportunities, producer-turned-director Hendel will present her first feature-length documentary, Vaterlandsverräter, about a Stasi informant who quits his job.

Lollipop Monster is Riemann’s story of two adolescent antics, adapted from her comic-strip illustrations.

From German film schools come medium-length works Digame – Tell me, set in Buenos Aires; Ice Flowers, about a young Bosnian taking care of an elderly German woman; and You Know The Park Is Filled With Flowers, about a woman who lives in a small town while her boyfriend works in Berlin.

On Feb 20, Berlinale’s public cinema day, the winners of the Max Ophüls Award feature film competition for 2011 will be presented, as will the First Steps Award for 2010, going to documentary Ein Sommer voller Türen by Stefan Ludwig.

“Since German documentaries are held in high regard everywhere by the public and critics in movie theatres and at international festivals, we would like to show our appreciation by giving them a permanent place in the programme of the Perspektive Deutsches Kino,” said section director Linda Söffker. “The films chosen for the programme so far demonstrate how young German filmmakers seek challenges. Both in content and form, they display the courage to explore the topical and volatile issues of our times.”