What a Berlinale! We are incredibly proud of our students and alumni who presented so many great films in almost all sections of the festival. In only 10 days, 14 of their films were shown 60 times on the cinema screens of Germany’s capital—and there were award winners!
4 films screened in Forum or Perspektive Deutsches Kino
Sara Summa, Miriam Bliese, and Simona Kostova—three talented women directors from the DFFB celebrated their feature films’ respective world and German premieres at the Berlinale. While Sara Summa enjoyed a successful world premiere in Forum with GLI ULTIMI A VEDERLI VIVERE, Miriam Bliese’s DIE EINZELTEILE DER LIEBE was presented to the audience for the first time in Perspektive Deutsches Kino. DREISSIG by Simona Kostova received its German premiere at the Berlinale and—winner of this year’s Max Ophüls Prize—DAS MELANCHOLISCHE MÄDCHEN by Susanne Heinrich made a guest appearance in Perspektive Deutsches Kino.
We wish our talented directors continued success!
Awards for DFFB graduates
We warmly congratulate our alumna Angela Schanelec who won the Silver Bear for Best Director. With ICH WAR ZU HAUSE, ABER the Berlin director took part in the Berlinale competition for the first time and impressed the international jury with elements of the Berlin School—a film with long, spacious takes, and silence.
Congratulations also go out to the team of SYSTEMSPRENGER, especially to director Nora Fingscheidt and DFFB alumnus and producer Jonas Weydemann, who were awarded the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize by the jury. The prize has been awarded since 1987 to competition feature films that provide new perspectives on the art of filmmaking. The prize was named after the first director of the festival Alfred Bauer. SYSTEMSPRENGER also received the Berliner Morgenpost Readers’ Jury Prize.
Additionally, the Compass-Perspektive-Award, endowed with €5,000, was given to a film with DFFB participation. We congratulate BORN IN EVIN by Maryam Zaree, who worked on the film with DFFB alumna and cinematographer Siri Klug, for receiving the award for the best film from the current programme of Perspektive Deutsches Kino.
We also congratulate DFFB graduate Ana-Felicia Scutelnicu, who was awarded the Kompagnon-Fellowship for her treatment TRANSIT TIMES. The prize, jointly given by Berlinale Talents and Perspektive Deutsches Kino, offers a fellowship of €5,000 for independent script and project development, a mentoring programme to strengthen the director’s creative vision, as well as coaching to improve networking within the industry.
HAGAZUSSA celebrates success during the Berlin Critic’s Week
A DFFB graduate was awarded a coveted prize during the Berlin Critic’s Week—for her extraordinary work on HAGAZUSSA, our graduate and cinematographer Mariel Baqueiro received the prize for Best Camera given by
the German Film Critics Association. We would like to congratulate HAGAZUSSA on winning this award, another prize to add to its collection after the film received the FIRST STEPS AWARDS 2018.
Julian Radlmeier brings home the Golden Lola for the best unfilmed script
Another reason to celebrate: DFFB alumnus Julian Radlmaier was awarded the Golden Lola 2019 for the best unfilmed script for his treatment BLUTSAUGER. The prize, endowed with €10,000, was presented at the reception of the Verband Deutscher Drehbuchautoren (VDD) by Monika Grütters, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media.
Wow! Congratulations to all students and alumni on being invited to participate in the festival and especially to the prizewinners! We are looking forward to the next season and can only add one thing: Keep up the good work!