Filmfest Hamburg starts its 34th round with celebrities and Dostoyevsky films

The Hamburg Film Festival has started its 34th round - with numerous celebrities on the red carpet. Among the many guests on the first evening in the Cinemaxx cinema at Dammtor were the actor Christian Friedel ("Babylon Berlin"), the acting brothers Merlin and Fridolin Sandmeyer ("The Discounters") as well as the actresses Pheline Roggan ("Soul Kitchen"), Nicole Heesters and Mechthild Großmann.

«The competition and the award ceremony make the cinema exciting. Red carpet, glamor and applause pay tribute to those who dedicate themselves to the film creatively and with talent, but also with risk and hard work, and who delight and inspire us as an audience," said Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) at the opening.

The festival, which has existed since 1992, is in its third year under the direction of Malika Rabahallah. «For two hours we see the world through the eyes of another person. Maybe through the eyes of a complete stranger whose life has nothing to do with us. And suddenly we get closer to this person,” said the festival director.

Start with a film about Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The festival opened with the film “The Idiot(s)” by Polish directors Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert. In their adaptation of the biography “The Gambler Wife” they tell an episode from the life of Fyodor Dostoyevsky and his wife Anna. The focus of the film is Anna, who holds the strings in the background and drives forward work on the novel “The Idiot”.

It's also worth taking a look at the red carpets for film festival fans in the coming days: Actresses Jella Haase and Lena Urzendowsky are expected at the screening of "Children of the Sun" on Saturday. On Sunday, Thorsten Merten and Hanna Schygulla will present the film “The Great Collapse”.

Celebrities who have traveled from far away are expected on Tuesday: Helen Mirren will then stop by on the red carpet and accept the film festival's Douglas Sirk Prize. She also has a film in her luggage. In “A Talent for Murder” she plays the writer Patricia Highsmith.

Free entry on October 3rd

The Hamburg Film Festival is showing 114 films from 64 countries in the five festival cinemas until October 3rd. October 3rd is also “Free Entry Day”, when many film festival films can be watched free of charge in the Hamburg festival cinemas and nine other district cinemas.