Munich fest takes a page from Cannes

May 30, 2008 The Filmfest Muenchen, Munich's sleepy summer film festival that has always been considered a second sister to the Berlin International Film Festival, is taking a shot at the next rung by creating a couple of lucrative prizes for non-German films. The ARRI-Zeiss Award for best foreign film, accompanied by a 50,000 euro ($78,000) cash prize, will make its debut at this year's 26th annual Filmfest, set for June 20-28, organizers said Friday. Two U.S. films -- "Ibid," a road movie by Russell Friedenberg about two psychiatric center escapees, and Jake Mahaffy's "Wellness," about a traveling salesman cheated out of his life savings, are in the running for the Cinevision Award.

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