“Marina” and “Monsieur Claude and his Daughters” are the joint winners of the Bernhard Wicki Award
With more than 600 guests, the Grand Awards Ceremony Gala of the International Filmfest Emden-Norderney was completely sold out. During the ceremony 7 film awards and the Emden Acting Award were presented, with a total Festival purse of 55,500 Euro. Six film awards were decided on by the audience, with a jury selecting the winner of the new Creative Energy Award.
In the Bernhard Wicki Award the neck-and-neck race between the two winning films ended in a draw. Both films were equally favoured by Festival audiences. This means that for the first time, two films share the main award of the Filmfest Emden-Norderney.
The Awards Ceremony was attended by Dr. Annette Schwandner, Director of the Department of Culture of the Ministry for Science and Culture of the State of Lower Saxony, as well as Emden’s Mayor Bernd Bornemann, both of whom congratulated the Festival on its 25th anniversary in their speeches.
Bernhard Wicki Award
The Bernhard Wicki Award is the Festival’s main award. It is an audience award with a purse of 10,000 Euro. Fourteen films from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Croatia, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Serbia and the USA were nominated for the award.
The award went to:
“Marina” by Stijn Coninx, B/I 2013
and
“Monsieur Claude und seine Töchter” (“Qu'est-ce qu'on a fait au bon dieu?”) by Philippe de Chauveron, F 2014
DGB Trade Union Award
Four films were nominated for this audience award for a film especially committed to socially relevant issues. The productions competing for the purse of 7,000 Euro dealt with quite different social topics, such as the legal equality of men and women, financial and economic intrigues or the life of young people in a social environment blighted by poverty.
The award went to:
“Sternstunde Ihres Lebens” by Erica von Moeller, D 2014
NDR Young Directors Award
The NDR Young Directors Award has a purse of 5,000 Euro and is presented to a director for his or her first or second German feature film. The audience chose the award winner from three nominated films.
The award went to:
“Bocksprünge” by Eckhard Preuss, D 2013
AOK Health Insurance Film Award
The AOK Film Award is presented to the director of a competition film that deals with the subject of health in a creative way. The audience decides who will take the award home, along with its purse of 5,000 Euro.
The award went to:
“The Optimists“ (“Optimistene”) by Gunhild Westhagen, N/S 2013
Creative Energy Award
For the first time this year the Creative Energy Award with its purse of 5,000 Euro was presented for exceptional individual achievement in the context of the production of a full-length feature film. The independent jury of experts chose the winner from four films nominated by the Festival management.
The award was shared equally by:
Stefan Weigl, screenplay author ”Zeit der Kannibalen”
Milena Maitz, producer “Zeit der Kannibalen”
Jury statement:
“The basis of the magic of the extreme chamber piece “Zeit der Kannibalen”, its genetic code so to speak, is the creative cooperation between screenplay and production.
The close mutual interplay between these two crafts is the creative energy that makes this film possible and that has given it wings. This is why the Creative Energy Award goes to the producer Milena Maitz and the screenplay author Stefan Weigl”.
VGH East Friesian Short Film Award
The winner of the “Ottifant Camera”, a trophy designed by comedian Otto Waalkes, as well as the award purse of 2,500 Euro was chosen by the audience from among 12 films. The runner-up receives a prize of 1,000 Euro, the film in third place receives 500 Euro. Productions from Great Britain, Finland, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands took part in the competition.
1st Prize (2,500 Euro + Ottifant Camera)
“Pony Place” by Joost Reijmers, NL 2013
2nd Prize (1,000 Euro)
“Rúbaí” by Louise Ní Fhiannachta, IRE 2013
3rd Prize (500 Euro)
“Are You Albert” by Dan Hodgson, UK 2013
Engelke Short Film Award
The winner of the Engelke Short Film Award with its purse of 2,500 Euro was selected by young audiences from among six nominated films.
The award went to:
“Das Gewehr” by Florian Ross, D 2014
Emden Acting Award
The Filmfest Emden-Norderney honours not only individual films, but also exceptional acting achievements. The Emden Acting Award has been presented annually since 2011. The nationally and internationally successful actor August Diehl is this year’s award winner. The famous stage and screen actor was praised thus in this year’s eulogy: “It is something many actors dream of, but which our prize-winner has actually achieved – a career début that scores top marks on all counts. First film, first leading role, first success and first film award. The film was called “23 – Nothing is how it seems”. After that, August Diehl was the talk of the town, he could choose his roles, both on the cinema screen and in the theatre. The figures that August Diehl so wonderfully portrays are mostly outsiders. It is these complex roles that he is drawn to. Though somewhat reserved in terms of gesture, Diehl puts his entire heart and soul into all of his roles. And he is always good for a surprise, because he refuses to be type-cast.”
Emden Screenplay Award
The winner of the prestigious Emden Screenplay Award was selected from among 69 anonymously submitted screenplays by a jury nominated by the Grimme Institute. The award winner was named on 9th May at a special awards ceremony at the VHS-Forum Emden. The winner receives a prize of 10,000 Euro to be used exclusively for the realisation of new projects. The two other nominees also receive prizes of 1,000 Euro each.
Emden Screenplay Award 2014 (10,000 Euro)
“Jonathan” by Piotr J. Lewandowski, Offenbach am Main – Drama
Nominations (1,000 Euro each)
“Alles Isy” by Max Eipp and Mark Monheim, Berlin – Drama
“Lucky Luusen” by Mark Monheim, Berlin and Martin Rehbock, Munich – Comedy
Special Award: A Writer's Workplace by the Sea
The prize presented in this unusual Special Award is a one-week stay on the island of Norderney at the theme hotel Inselloft, intended to promote work on new projects. The award was presented yesterday at the Festival’s Dune Talk event in the Kurtheater Norderney.
The award went to:
Sathyan Ramesh, screenplay author “Göttliche Funken”
The Festival takes place from 7th to 14th May. Further Information available at www.filmfest-emden.de and www.facebook.com/filmfestemden. Press releases are available as downloads at http://www.rische-pr.de/newsroom