The 33rd Film Festival 2019
Wherever he appeared, he was received with a standing ovation: Mario Adorf was the star of the Braunschweig Film Festival! The festival honored him with the main prize "Die Europa".
The 20,000 euro prize was donated by the festival's main sponsor Volkswagen Financial Services.
Mario Adorf and the" Europa
Laudator Dominik Wessely, director of the documentary "Es hätte schlimmer kommen könnte," praised Adorf's ability to create a character with just a few strokes. "It is wide spectrum that distinguishes you as an actor - from psychological character study, crook comedy, action cinema and the historical political thriller to Alfred Matzerath and glue manufacturer Haffenloher - you never rose above your characters," Wessely said. For the Europa as an award for outstanding acting achievements and services to European film culture, "I can think of no more worthy laureate than you!" concluded Wessely.
"The fact that this award is called "Europe" of all things has a special meaning for me. After all, I have always been a European by origin, when there was no talk of it at all," confessed Adorf, who followed up with a plea for Europe: "The very big surprise this evening was the internationality of this festival. To see here, especially in the competition films, how many different European collaborators are involved in the individual films, that's a great thing! This is the Europe we want and need to preserve!"
The best European films
The Braunschweig audience made its clear commitment to Europe at the box office. Audience favorites were "I am lying now" by Pawel Borowski, "A Clever Crook" by Lucas Bernard and "The Best of Dorien B." by Anke Blondé, which received the audience award "Der Heinrich" for European debut and second films. Lead actress Kim Snauwaert accepted the prize, which, like nine of the ten competition films, celebrated its German premiere in Braunschweig.
The jury awarded the Volkwagen Financial Services Prize for Best European Film to "In My Skin" (Farming) by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. The jury, which included Dr. Frank Woesthoff (Volkswagen Financial Services), French electro-pop duo The Penelopes and Polish director Olga Chajdas, praised the kineastic energy of "In My Skin" as well as "its powerful, accusatory and precisely drawn image. A complex portrait of losing oneself, loneliness and the roots of anger and cruelty. A modern story of a forgotten past struggling with social and national stigmas, with an engaging cast and unique storytelling."
Volkswagen Financial Services is supporting both awards with 10,000 euros each.
Two prizes for Elke Margarete Lehrenkrauss
Director Elke Margarete Lehrenkrauss took home two prizes for her documentary "Lovemobil," about female sex workers who work in mobile homes on rural roads in Lower Saxony: the new women's film prize "Die TILDA," worth 5,000 euros, and the "Heimspiel" prize, which was supported for the first time by Volkwagen Financial Services.
The "TILDA" jury was impressed by a film of quiet tones, "which takes its time and provides very private insights into the emotional lives of the protagonists. It allows us to participate directly in the hopes and fears, the loneliness and despair of the women - an amazing achievement, made possible by the three-year shooting period, during which the film team earned the trust of the women portrayed with sensitivity and respect. Unusual for a documentary film is that the film team remains invisible and above all inaudible, but this gives the women portrayed the space to tell their own story." The jury of the Women's Film Award Prof. Heike Klippel (HBK Braunschweig), Frauke Korbmüller (producer "Systemsprenger"), Joanna Łapińska (Transatlantyk Festival Łodź), Dr. Maxa Zoller (International Women's Film Festival Dortmund | Cologne) and Dr. Wiebke Westermeyer (one of the TILDA donors).
The Heimspiel jury judged: "Elke Margarete Lehrenkrauss manages to show her protagonists with dignity, in that the camera accompanies the women not voyeuristically, but discreetly observing. In doing so, an authenticity is achieved that suggests that the women have completely forgotten the camera.
Queer Film Award Lower Saxony for "When we danced"!
The jury of the Queer Film Award Lower Saxony, endowed with 5,000 euros, decided in favor of the Georgian-Swedish production "When We Danced" by Levan Akin. "Akin shows us with a precise and sensitive eye beauties to admire and structures to change. "When we danced" celebrates love, dance and life, and thus also the culture and tradition of Georgia, but in the end also the rebellion and resistance of the protagonist against these traditions," said the jury with Christopher Kühne (Perlen Team Hannover), Lucie Veith (network coordinator for the concerns of intersex people in Lower Saxony), Edith Ahmann (managing director Frauen- und MädchenGesundheitsZentrum Region Hannover e.V.), Mirja Janine Sachs (board member of the QNN for the area of trans*) and Jan Künemund (media scientist).
Braunschweig Film Award goes to Max Hubacher
For his embodiment of the role of Jonas in "Der Läufer" (The Runner ) by Hannes Baumgartner, Max Hubacher received the "Braunschweiger Filmpreis" (Braunschweig Film Award), endowed with 3,000 euros, as best newcomer actor. Max Hubacher "plays this complex character with an intensity and calmness that almost leaves you speechless", said the jury with Elke Margarete Lehrenkrauss, Tim Seyfi and Dr. Ulrich Nehring. Max Hubacher plays Jonas' increasing loss of all control over his actions and his fight against it in a very measured and highly sensitive way. The monster, which he has drawn here with deeply human features, does not let go of the viewer - far beyond the film - for a long time, according to the jury.
The jury awarded an honorable mention to Adelia-Constance Giovanni Ocleppo. "In "Pelican Blood," she manages to be so eerily precise and present in just a few moments that the inner drama of her character comes within the viewer's grasp. We want to see more from you!" said the jury.
The Green Horizons Award
The 2,500 "Green Horizons Award" for the best film on sustainability went to French filmmaker Martin Boudot. His documentary "Green Warriors: Paraguay's Poisoned Fields" is a film that "opens our eyes, concerns us, moves us - and provides lasting food for thought," according to the jury, which included director and last year's winner Jasmin Herold ("Dark Eden"), journalist and editor of the "Green Cinema Handbook" Birgit Heidsiek and Roland Makulla, environmental, quality and project management at award sponsor oeding print GmbH.
In his film, Boudot examines the global soy production and distribution chain. During his investigative research in Paraguay, the filmmaker discovers that toxic substances are sprayed on soy plantations that have long since been banned in Europe. Through the food chain, they also end up on the plates of consumers there. The chemical companies and the global food discounters are the main beneficiaries of the cultivation of the monocultures, the so-called "Paraguay's gold". Martin Boudot not only documents the deplorable conditions, but as an activist also has a significant influence on the action.
His film is harrowing and at the same time encouraging, because it shows that people can make a difference when they stand up together against injustice," the jury said. "Green Warriors: Paraguay's Poisoned Fields" sharpens the view for complex interrelationships: the cheap meat products have a high price - for the poor rural population in Paraguay, but also for consumers in other countries.
The Green Horizons Award is supported by oeding print gmhb.
KINEMA 2019
A jury of six young people, three from Lower Saxony and three from Normandy, awarded the Franco-German Youth Prize KINEMA. They chose the German production "My End. Dein Anfang." (My End. Your Beginning ) by Mariko Minoguchi, in which the protagonist, Nora, experiences a severe blow of fate that disrupts her usual everyday life. The jury particularly praised the puzzle-like, nested narrative style, whose "parts only come together in the viewer's mind. The diversity of the characters allows everyone to identify with the plot individually. The viewer is taken over by an emotional tension all the time, in which death, pain, frustration, hope and humor play together. Mariko Minoguchi's directorial work changes the usual view of grief, inspires self-reflection and gives hope in humanity."
East German Perspectives, Silent Films and Helmut Zerlett
With the project "Late Showcase - 30 Years After. Wende Flicks and More," the film festival recalled the Wende era from an East German perspective. The project included the photo exhibition "My LAST PICTURE SHOW" with works by director and cameraman Roland Gräf, which was on display at the State Museum. DEFA legend Gräf had experienced the fall of the Wall in 1989 at the Braunschweig Film Festival. He had been accompanied at the time by actress Jutta Wachowiak, who now returned to Braunschweig for two performances with the play "Jutta Wachowiak tells Jurassic Park." The festival also screened a six-part film series from 1982-2018, with guests such as Andreas Kleinert (WEGE IN DIE NACHT), Heike Misselwitz (WINTER ADÉ) and Jochen Wisotzki (BERLIN - PRENZLAUER BERG) stopping by.
Together with the Braunschweig State Orchestra, the festival presented three premieres in the music film series "FxM - Film meets Music". For the opening, British conductor Andrew Berryman conducted the German premiere of the film concert "Das Piano - Live-to-Film" in the Stadthalle Braunschweig.
With "Stories: Path of Destinies," the festival presented a live-to-game concert for the first time, a video game concert accompanied live by an orchestra.
Helmut Zerlett wins "White Lion
The star guest of the series was Cologne bandleader and film composer Helmut Zerlett, whom the festival honored with the "White Lion" for his life's work. A retrospective of eight of his films was dedicated to Zerlett. In a portrait concert, Helmut Zerlett played a selection of suites of his film music with the "Akademix", the band of the German Film Academy, supported by musicians of the State Orchestra, from "Jerry Cotton", "House of Crocodiles", "Vampire Sisters" and others.
At the Scharoun Theater Wolfsburg, Helmut Imig conducted the Babelsberg Film Orchestra for the screening of "Skyscrapers of All Things!" with Harold Llyod with the score by former Film Festival guest, American conductor Carl Davis. French DJ duo The Penelopes played live to the newly restored and reconstructed 1925 silent film "The Home Maker."
The combination of short film and electronic film music characterized the last two film concerts: Jakob Gardemann and Christoph Seelinger created a film-musical memorial to Edgar Allan Poe in "Silent Poe," while Patrick Müller and Wellenvorm presented an experimental silent-visual reflection on literature.
Panel talks, show cases, lectures - the two-day Industry Day covered a whole range of industry topics: Block Chain, Trailer Editing, Video Game Music to Green Film Production ranged the contributions, to which the festival welcomed renowned experts such as director Nicole Wegener, lawyer Florian Glatz, producer Frauke Korbmüller, Birgit Heidsiek and others.
With 27,500 visitors, the festival recorded the same number of viewers as in the record year 2018. "A great success," says a delighted film festival board member Thorsten Rinke, "all the more so as we had fewer cinema seats available. The occupancy rate was significantly higher than in the previous year."
