03.09.2008
Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg successful at the FIRST STEPS Award 2008
A still from Nacht vor Augen: Soldier David with his half-brother Benny. (Copyright: noirfilm filmproduktion GmbH & Co. KG)
Three out of five films receiving FIRST STEPS Awards for young filmmakers were produced by students and graduates of the
Filmakademie in Ludwigsburg. The awards ceremony was held in Berlin on the 26th of August.
NACHT VOR AUGEN by the direction student Brigitte Bertele took the prize in the
full-length feature film category. The film tells the story of David, a German soldier who returns to his village in the Black Forest after serving in Afghanistan. David no longer wants to think about whether his deployment was anything more than an adventure that he had survived successfully. His suppressed issues surface in his relationship to his half-brother Benny, who he wants to “make into a man” with football training, talks about fear, and finally in hand-to-hand combat in the woods.
The Filmakademie also put in a convincing showing in the
documentary category: the young director Nico Apel received the Newcomer award for his unusual portrait of the Iranian rally driver
SONBOL. His graduation film tells the story of a young woman who wants to live her life as she sees fit. She is 35 years old, divorced, has her own dental practice and drives rallys – preferably against male competitors. Her lifestyle means a daily struggle – against her mother, who wants her to remarry, against sporting officials who want to prohibit women from participating in rallys, and against her own doubts as to whether God is on her side.
The Filmakademie once again maintained its traditionally strong showing in nominations in the
Commercial category. The FIRST STEPS Commercial Award went to two spots this year: first place was shared by Christian Mielmann’s STARBUCKS
BUS BALLET and IFS FILMEMACHEN
STUNT by Hanno Olderdissen and Markus Sehr of the
Internationale Filmhochschule Köln.
The FIRST STEPS Awards are presented annually to the best graduation films from German, Austrian and Swiss film schools. Prizes totalling €72,000 are awarded in five categories covering feature films, documentaries and commercials. A total of 164 films were submitted for this year’s FIRST STEPS Awards – 90 feature films, 38 documentaries and 36 commercials.
More:
http://www.filmakademie.de http://www.firststeps.de
