THE BMW GROUP AT THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 2006

Director Lou Ye in competition with "Summer Palace"

Munich/Cannes. The 59th International Film Festival in Cannes, to be held from
17 to 28 May 2006, is amongst the most famous film festivals in the world. 55
films from 30 countries will be appearing in various categories. In the
competition for the award of the coveted "Palme d'Or': "Summer Palace" from Lou
Ye, which was co-produced by producer Helge Albers from Flying Moon film
production, based in Germany. The BMW Group supports the Chinese film-maker Lou
Ye.

The political love story "Summer Palace" is competing.
In "Summer Palace", the Chinese author and director Lou Ye, born in Shanghai in
1965, depicts a love story over ten years, ranging from the Imperial Summer
Palace in a Beijing in a tumult of student unrest to the former divided Berlin.
Lou Ye became internationally famous at the turn of the century with his
multi-award-winning feature film "Suzhou River". Lou Ye is part of the "sixth
generation" of Chinese film makers who are trying to assert their "authors'
cinema " in the face of Chinese state censorship. The statement from Cannes is:
"From an artistic perspective, a major festival cannot exist today without
Asian films. In choosing Wong Kar-Wai as president of the jury, we are sending
out a clear signal".

"Stormbreaker" - action-packed entertainment in the film market.
Long a best seller in the English-speaking world, the young person's novel
"Stormbreaker" by British author Anthony Horowitz has been turned into a
fast-moving film and is now being offered to the film market in Cannes. In the
action-packed thriller, young Alex Rider is hired by the British Secret
Service, MI6, and, as an undercover agent, begins his battle against evil. The
cast list includes such illustrious names as Ewan McGregor, Mickey Rourke and
Alicia Silverstone. Likewise, Jeno Hodi's mystery thriller "Metamorphosis",
co-produced by the young German company "Schmidtz Katze Filmkollektiv" is also
being shown. In this, Hollywood actor and "Highlander" legend Christopher
Lambert plays the nobleman Constantin.

Début film "Ping Pong" in the "Semaine de la Critique" section.
In the "Semaine de la Critique", which is held in parallel with the
international film festival, Matthias Luthardt has entered the running with his
full-length début film "Ping Pong". The film was produced by Niklas Bäumer, one
of the three partners in the up-and-coming production company Junifilm, from
Berlin.

Focus on short films.
High-quality short films are the focus of the support provided by the BMW
Group. AG Kurzfilm, which works in partnership with the BMW Group, sees itself
as representing the interests of German short films, and is making it possible
for German short films to be presented to the international film world in
Cannes. The "Next Generation" section is showing the short film "Bazar" by
Markus Sehr, one of the winners of the BMW Short Film Award 2005, and Philipp
Wolf's "On the field". In the "Short Film Corner" section, Andreas Pieper, a
winner of the BMW Short Film Award 2006, has been invited to Cannes with "The
Woman of the fourth picture down right". This section also includes Armin
Völcker's "Leroy cleans up". In the "Cinéfondation" section, Stefan Müller is
showing his seven-minute "Mr. Schwartz, Mr. Hazen & Mr. Horlocker", an
animation about grotesque disputes between neighbours.

Producers on the Move.
Cannes' "film market" is considered to be the largest in the world. Around 400
suppliers expect visitor numbers to exceed 10,000, and will be showing their
films in over 1,400 screenings. This is where the film industry from all over
the world meets and talks about international co-productions. To provide
European film with a forum, European Film Promotion e.V. has been organising
the event known as "Producers on the Move" since the year 2000. Since then,
over 100 young European producers have been invited to Cannes to make
international contacts. This year, up-and-coming young producer Bettina
Brokemper will be attending from Germany; she co-produced the
Israeli-French-German feature film "The Syrian Bride" by Eran Riklis and has
also produced such high-quality works as "Low Profile" by Christoph
Hochhäusler, with her Cologne-based company Heimatfilm, founded in 2003. The
BMW Group is a partner to the "Producers on the Move" event for the second
year.

For questions please contact:

Corporate Communications

Jörg Schweizer, Public Relations, Film. Placement. Entertainment.
Telephone: +49 89 382 23250, Fax: +49 89 382 20697

Michael Kirsch, General Manager Public Relations
Telephone: +49 89 382 25111, Fax: +49 89 382 26972

Media Website: www.press.bmwgroup.com
e-mail: presse@bmw.de