A laboratory for young audiences: CineYou

© Constanza Melendez, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Museum Brandhorst

FILMFEST MÜNCHEN is launching CineYou, a program of hands-on events for young audiences in Munich. The festival’s competition of films for children and families is now being presented under a new name: CineKindl.
 
Kinderfilmfest München is being reorganized and renamed. Starting in 2024, it will consist of two new programs: the competition section known as CineKindl, and a new program called CineYou. FILMFEST MÜNCHEN aims for the latter to get young people excited about cinematic storytelling. CineYou is not a conventional program of films, but rather an open laboratory that seeks to involve children, teenagers, and young adults more closely in the festival. Interactive workshops, creative projects, and exciting events will provide an opportunity to play an active part in the festival — doing far more than just watching movies.

 
“If you want to sustain a vibrant culture of filmmaking and moviegoing for years to come, you have to create appealing ways for the younger generations attending the festival to participate in it. That’s exactly what we aim to do with CineYou: get young people excited about the variety that the medium of film offers and the special atmosphere that movie theaters provide!” say Tobi Krell and Tobi Obermeier, who comprise the CineKindl and CineYou program team.

CineYou celebrates the Young Night together with Museum Brandhorst
To celebrate the start of CineYou, FILMFEST MÜNCHEN will be taking part in the Young Night at Museum Brandhorst in the heart of Munich's art district on June 28. On the first weekend of the exhibition "Andy Warhol & Keith Haring. Party of Life" exhibition, the museum opens its galleries to a young audience free of charge and revitalizes the area between Museum Brandhorst and Pinakothek der Moderne. There will be plenty on offer inside and outside the museum: A musical program with a focus on house and dance will be complemented by workshops and interventions, food trucks and drinking booths. For the first time, FILMFEST MÜNCHEN is looking forward to inspiring many young people with an outdoor film program at this collaborative party. 

Participatory programs of CineYou
The Filmfest is delighted to once again invite the NewMotion initiative to Munich. The job entry program is aimed specifically at newcomers and career changers with no previous experience in film and no contacts in the industry in order to facilitate access to film and television through low-threshold job shadowing. Together, a speed dating format is designed to get to know the film industry and invite people to network.

In order to do more to familiarize young adults with films and critical approaches to cinematic content, the festival will for the first time have a youth jury this year. Five young adults from Munich will be given the opportunity to award a prize to one of the films screened at FILMFEST MÜNCHEN that does an exceptional job of relating the experiences of young people.
 
Existing activities with a proven track record will also be integrated into the CineYou program. This year, for example, an online workshop with Tobias Krell, aka Checker Tobi, will again be available to school classes of grades 1 through 6 free of charge, starting in mid-June. Students from the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich will receive introductory training in film criticism under the guidance of Dunja Bialas, a journalist who reports on arts and culture. The texts they write will be published on the Artechock film platform during the week of the festival.
 
Once again, a group of young people will be invited to a workshop in which they will film the trailer for the CineKindl section. They will be mentored by director, author and actor Axel Ranisch, who was a guest at last year's FILMFEST MÜNCHEN with his series "Nackt über Berlin" and will be working with the group to develop the concept and carry out the shoot.
 
Film program for young Munich audiences: CineKindl
Naturally, the program of films for the youngest of viewers will continue to have a home at the Filmfest as it is given a new name. All films for children up to the age of 14 as well as families will henceforth be grouped together in the CineKindl competition section and thus put on a par with the other film sections. Furthermore, young audiences in Munich will for the first time be able to see premieres of German and international films, presented in an inimitably charming way by Tobias Krell and Tobias Obermeier. The schedule for the CineKindl film section will be announced in early May.

Festival start 2024
The 41st FILMFEST MÜNCHEN will be held this year from June 28 to July 7 and will begin with activities for young audiences. CineYou will have its first major event on Friday, June 28 at the Kunstareal near the festival center at the Amerikahaus, while the CineKindl section will open on Saturday, June 29 as a matinee event at the University of Television and Film Munich (HFF).
 
On Saturday, June 29, FILMFEST MÜNCHEN will hold its opening gala (by invitation only), and starting on Sunday, the program will expand to include all the festival theaters and venues across town with films and events for people of all ages.