The festival week is drawing to a close. Yesterday evening, the winners of this year's 36th BIFF were awarded a total of ten film prizes. The evening took place in the festive atmosphere of the Großes Haus of the Staatstheater Braunschweig. Already since the beginning of the week, the renowned festival invited to the venues of the Lion City - including the ASTOR Filmtheater, the Universum Filmtheater, the Red Hall, the LOT Theater, the St. Michaeliskirche and now most recently again to the Staatstheater Braunschweig. After opening this year with a symphonic classic at the ASTOR, the festival now came to a close on the big stage: at the awards ceremony, a total of ten prizes were presented to regional, national and also international filmmakers and actors.
Between drum roll and winning smile
In keeping with this year's EUROPA award winner, the moderation was also in female hands - singer, author and entertainer Annie Heger led the invited audience through the evening program and opened the evening with a vocal show performance. The first honor on stage was a premiere, because for the first time the new short film award of the BIFF "The EDDA" was awarded. The award, endowed with 2,000 euros, went to director Thi Dang An Tran for her animated film XANH (Germany 2022). In it, daughter and father travel back in his memory as one of the Vietnamese boat people, having a conversation about violence, affirmation of life and identity.
Another premiere is the presentation of the film award "ECHT": The award, endowed with 2,500 euros, will continue to go to the best feature film with a queer theme. The first film to receive the award is SO DAMN EASY GOING (Sweden, Norway 2022) by Christoffer Sandler. Unfortunately, Sandler could not attend the award ceremony in person, but thanked the jury for the award via video message. The press spokesman of the German film distributor Salzgeber, Dr. Christian Weber, accepted the award statue on his behalf.
This was followed by the presentation of the "Heimspiel Award", the award for the best film with a regional connection. The jury chose THE ORDINARIES (Germany 2022) by Sophie Linnenbaum, which was largely shot in Hanover and in which Hanover actress Denise M'Baye convinced the jury: "Denise M'Baye plays, sings, dances and inspires the audience with all her talents in one film. THE ORDINARIES is an extraordinary film that was partly shot in Hanover. The scenographers Josefine Lindner and Max-Josef Schönborn and their team from the region created expressive motifs from locations in Hanover. Some of the supporting roles were filled by actors from the region, and the crew, the extras and the local motifs provide further references to Hannover and its surroundings.
This was followed by the presentation of the "Heimspiel Award", the award for the best film with a regional connection. The jury chose THE ORDINARIES (Germany 2022) by Sophie Linnenbaum, which was largely shot in Hanover and in which Hanover actress Denise M'Baye convinced the jury: "Denise M'Baye plays, sings, dances and inspires the audience with all her talents in one film. THE ORDINARIES is an extraordinary film that was partly shot in Hanover. The scenographers Josefine Lindner and Max-Josef Schönborn and their team from the region created expressive motifs from locations in Hanover. Some of the supporting roles were filled by actors from the region, and the crew, the extras and the local motifs provide further references to Hannover and its surroundings.
The KINEMA jury, consisting of six young people from Normandy (France) and Lower Saxony, was also unanimous. Because they also decided together for the tragicomedy THE ORDINARIES. In a fabulous world, strictly divided into main characters, supporting characters and outtakes, the film role Paula faces the most important test of her life: she has to prove that she has what it takes to be the main character and soon she starts to doubt - herself, her place in the story and those who tell it. The young jury explained their choice: "The plot immerses us in a new world full of creativity and humor that captivates us from beginning to end. The fact that Paula is the same age as us makes it easy for us to bond with her. The music, which influences the characters' emotions and our own throughout the film, harmonizes with the fluid camera work."
In times of energy crisis, topics around environment and sustainability are more topical than ever and get important visibility and space for this so important discourse through BIFF's "Green Horizons Award". This year's award goes to DUTY OF CARE - THE CLIMATE TRIALS (Belgium 2022) by Nic Balthazar. The jury explained their choice: "We have chosen a documentary in which the actions of individuals show tangible and far-reaching results. Because we can no longer wait for promises, we need action that leads to impactful change."
An honorable mention also went to JUST ANIMALS by Vesa Kuosmanen & Saila Kivelä - "for a touching, sometimes unsparing, always opinionated documentary that shows two sisters in their struggle against factory farming and negotiates the fundamental question of how ecological goals can be enforced with parliamentary politics, but also with activism and civil disobedience."
An annual affair of the heart for the BIFF is also the awarding of the "Braunschweig Film Prize", endowed with 5,000 euros, which is presented to the best German-speaking up-and-coming actor. This year it goes to Pablo Caprez: "SOUL OF A BEAST completely captivates us with its setting, the wild, apocalyptic outskirts of Zurich, and with its wonderful actors, above all Pablo Caprez," the jury announced. "Pablo Caprez lets us look deep into his soul in every moment, gives himself completely to the role. We see here: Sturm und Drang, love and tenderness, addiction, despair and joy! We are allowed to experience everything at first hand! This rebellious Gabriel is a stunner and must be awarded!"
Not only prizes such as the "Green Horizons Award" are intended to shine a spotlight on relevant discourses - "TILDA is also intended to send an important signal in the film industry - and beyond, of course. The Women's Film Award, endowed with 5,000 euros, is sponsored by 75 women from Braunschweig's urban society: that alone is an important sign. Juror Sophie Brakemeier outlines: "This year's TILDA goes to a film that manages an unprecedented balancing act between a highly personal narrative and an examination of a controversial but highly relevant social issue. At the same time, it allows the film a real-life dash of humor and authentic levity. An outstanding ensemble, led by the director with impressive acting, carries this balance, as does flawless and artful camera work and sound design. Congratulations to Floor van der Meulen for winning this year's TILDA for her film PINK MOON."
The audience award "Der Heinrich" is endowed with 10,000 euros and has been an integral part of the Braunschweig International Film Festival since 1999. Dr. Alexandra Baum-Ceisig, Director of Human Resources and Organization at main sponsor Volkswagen Financial Services, was allowed to reveal the secret of the winning film. During the entire festival week, the audience was able to vote for which of the competition films would receive the coveted audience award this year - the choice fell on THE FAMILY (France 2021) by Fabien Gorgeart. To celebrate, the winning film will traditionally be shown again in the cinema on Festival Sunday.
The "Volkswagen Financial Services Prize" and thus the associated prize money of 10,000 euros went this year to directors David Kapac & Andrija Mardešić. Their film THE UNCLE convinced the jury: "The actors are great, the setting and especially the camera with the surreal anamorphic look - everything fits together perfectly. Although at the beginning you have a certain distance to the characters, the viewer can relate to the pain of the family going through hell, because all the puzzle pieces of the complex plot are well told," she let it be known.
The festival's most prestigious prize is also traditional: for 15 years now, the "Europa" acting prize has been awarded for many years of outstanding performance and services to European film culture. It was already known in advance that this would be awarded to the renowned actress Senta Berger. The laudatory speech was held by Stella Maria Adorf - as the name suggests, daughter of star actor Mario Adorf and niece of Senta Berger. Accordingly, Adorf addressed particularly emotional words to the guest of honor: "It is really easy for me to talk about you, to you, because I am your "little niece". How many weekends and wonderful endless summer days I spent with you and Michael. [...] Those were my 'wonderful years'. Sometimes you weren't even there, 'Senta is shooting in America,' 'Senta is still in Vienna, in Sorrento, in Rome, she's shooting with Mario, your dad!'" Full of emotion, Berger accepted her prize, momentarily speechless, she then also thanked the audience for the warm reception. The prize money of 25,000 euros is donated by the main sponsor Volkswagen Financial Services.