Bettina Blümner’s “Vamos a la playa” won ArteKino Festival’s European Audience Award at a ceremony co-organized by the iconic French
fashion house Chanel in
Paris. Held at La Femis, Paris’ prestigious film school, the event also included a conversation with French filmmaker Rebecca Zlotowski (“Other People’s Children”), followed by a ceremony honoring Blümner and a screening of “Vamos a la playa,” as well as a posh cocktail which brought together film talent, executives and students. ArteKino Festival is a competitive online event taking place in December and showcasing director-driven films which are made available in six language across 32 countries on the website of Arte and its
YouTube channel. “Vamos a la playa” was one of the 12 feature films selected for the latest edition of ArteKino Festival, an initiative spearheaded by Remi Burah , ArteKino Foundation president and CEO of Arte
France Cinema , the film division of the TV network. “Vamos a la playa” follows backpacker millennials Benjamin, Judith and Katharina who travel to Cuba to find Katharina’s missing brother and find themselves entangled in a passionate love triangle. ArteKino Festival’s Young Audience Award went to Franciska Seifert Eliassen’s Norwegian film “Sister, What Grows Where Land Is Sick?” A partner of ArteKino Festival since 2020, Chanel also teams with the event to produce talks with emerging and renown directors and talent every year. So far, the luxury brand has collaborated with ArteKino on 36 conversations. Previous movies that received development financing from ArteKino International include Mati Diop’s “Atlantics” which was co-produced by Arte France Cinema and went on to win Cannes Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize. ArteKino International, a fund created out 20 years ago to help finance independent European movies, hands out cash prize awards at international festivals, including
Berlin, Cannes, Les Arcs, Locarno and San Sebastian. Besides “Atlantics,” previous recipients of ArteKino International’s grants include movies by Celine Sciamma, Julia Ducournau and Katell Quilleveré. ArteKino also launched last year a selection dedicated to restored classic films, in collaboration with ZDF. The total selection of ArtKino Festival, Selection and Classics – comprising 43 films from 24 European countries — pulled 7.7 views in 2022. Founded 8 years ago, the ArteKino Festival itself drew approximately 2.7 million views in 2023. Arte France Cinema is a major backer of European movies, notably Ruben Östlund’s Cannes’ Palme d’Or-winning “Triangle of Sadness” and Diop’s Berlinale Golden Bear winning “Dahomey.” La Femis film school hosted ArteKino Festival: