Last year at the 28th SCHLiNGEL edition, our programme focus was on productions from the Canadian province of Québec. Now, just a few months later, the Montreal International Children's Film Festival - in the French-language original Festival International du Film pour Enfants de Montréal (FIFEM) - a Québec festival is putting films from Germany centre stage. More than ten films are currently travelling with us to Canada for this purpose.

FIFEM has been running in Montreal since 2 March. Until 10 March, the programme will focus on German cinema, with the film selection being put together by our team. And so FRITZI - A REVOLUTIONARY TALE, WEEKEND REBELLS, BUTTERFLY TALE and SIMPLY NINA can currently be seen on the big screen in Montreal. For SIMPLY NINA, director Karin Heberlein travelled to Québec to talk to the local young audience about her production and give them a look behind the scenes. A short film programme consisting of ten German short films that have already been shown at SCHLiNGEL in previous years is also part of FIFEM.

SCHLiNGEL director Michael Harbauer will also be on site to accompany the German films. He is also part of this year's FIFEM expert jury and will take part as a speaker in a panel focusing on challenges for children's and youth film, among other things. After a total of eight feature-length films and one short film from Québec were our focus of last year's programme, FIFEM is now presenting a counterpart with a focus on German films. The basis for this cooperation in the programme design is the good relationship between the two festivals that has been built up over the past few years. For example, FIFEM director Jo-Anne Blouin is also a regular guest in Chemnitz.

"We are of course delighted that the FIFEM programme focus now offers German short and feature-length films in Québec a stage far away from their country of production. Children's films can be used as an example to show that we in Germany should look beyond our own horizons much more often in order to realise how much interest there is in German culture and way of life when reflecting on our own actions. We hope that the shown films from Germany have the quality and potential to also inspire in Québec.“, says Michael Harbauer.

The presentation of German films abroad is supported by the Saxon State Chancellery, the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung MDM and the Goethe-Institut Montreal.