The twelfth edition of the 11mm Football Film Festival has gotten off to a great start. In keeping with tradition, the organizers welcomed guests from the worlds of sports, culture and politics on the green turf in front of the Kino Babylon cinema.

The American trio RDGLDGRN kicked off Thursday's festivities with a musical performance.

The evening's emcee, SKY sports reporter Kai Dittmann, oversaw the proceedings and interviewed the night's star guest, Arne Friedrich, ahead of the first film of the event "Messi (The Movie)." The former German national and Hertha Berlin defender Friedrich answered questions about what it was like to play against Lionel Messi in 2010 World Cup in South Africa, after which the film was screened.

Thursday also featured the German premier of the film "Eighteam" with producer Ngosa Whoopi Chungu and director Juan Rodriguez-Briso in attendance.