What happens at the film ball, stays at the film ball": according to this motto, numerous stars will once again celebrate the start of the new film year in munich on saturday evening.
The mood at the nobelhotel bayerischer hof is exuberant, the celebrities are in good spirits – including film greats like director roland emmerich, katja riemann and jan josef liefers.
The glamorous ball, which is one of the most important events of the german film year, is opened by bavaria’s minister president markus soder (CSU) and his wife karin. "The hardest part of the evening is not a pit word, but doing the first dance" says soder while still on the red carpet. But the slow waltz goes successfully over the stage.
Excitement reigns for a brief moment before the ceremonial opening in the hall, as half a dozen firefighters step onto the red carpet. But the all-clear soon comes, a false alarm. The 1,000 or so guests expected by the film industry’s top organization were not fazed for long.
The film ball differs from other events in that it goes "straight to feasting and celebrating and having a good time" without a lot of talking, says actress heike makatsch. "Sometimes this has already led to really, really funny evenings."
Also this year? Although the box office rang less in 2018, the champagne glasses clinked on saturday evening. 1200 bottles ready for the film stars. Actress jella haase ("fack ju gohte") won’t say if she will party until the wee hours of the morning. "I always have the opposite in mind, but it usually happens," says the 26-year-old, "we’ll see what the evening brings.
At the last film ball haase loved to fill her stockelschuh with champagne – a kind of revival of the legendary evening decades ago, when bernd eichinger drank the champagne out of hannelore elsner’s shoe. This will not happen this year.
Out of reunion joy, for a lot of selfies and to celebrate, the celebrities lie in each other’s arms this evening. There is a lot of dancing, both on the dance floor and between the rows of tables. But the party doesn’t quite match last year’s. Uschi glas isn’t worried about the party mood of her colleagues, though: the parties in her day weren’t necessarily any better. The young people are "letting it rip, so I’m not worried about that," says the 74-year-old.
In terms of dress, there is no clear trend among the film stars – sometimes it glitters, sometimes flowers entwine themselves over the long fabric. Actresses lisa martinek and alexandra maria lara come in a very similar dress from the same designer – one sticks it out more, the other less. The presenter nina eichinger attracts many looks with a deep cleavage.
Likewise the actor lars eidinger, who shows up with bright red fingernails in a glittery jacket. "I just like it, i like it," says the 43-year-old about the nail look. Later in the day, he still acts as a DJ for his colleagues and chats from the closet: "in the morning, when you go to breakfast, you see women in evening dresses changing rooms and going back to their real rooms – I like that," he says about years gone by. This was a bit like the motto "what happens in the bayerische hof, stays in the bayerische hof".