Jury of the German Competition 2006:

Alexandra Seibel (Austria), Alexandra Stäheli (Switzerland), Jan Verwoert (Germany)

Prize for the Best Contribution to the German Competition (EUR 5,000)

Rien du tout

director: Maya Schweizer  Clemens von Wedemeyer

Germany/France 2006

Statement:

The German jury awards the prize for the best contribution to the German Competition to the film "Rien du tout" by Clemens von Wedemeyer and Maya Schweizer. The film is an accurate depiction of the precarious working conditions which increasingly determine our social life today. It does not do this, however, in the style of a social report with a predictable punchline. Instead, Wedemeyer and Schweizer create a series of scenes that could be happening during rehearsals for a play. This alienation reveals the dependencies, insecurities and resistance which determine the labour relations between the characters even more clearly. Each of these relations is different, the camera focuses on details, stays restless until it gathers together all the protagonist in a surprising final tableau which shows a society where everything falls apart while everyone remains dependent on everyone else.

3sat-Promotional-Award (EUR 2,500) for a work with a particulary innovative approach. This award includes an option for 3sat to purchase the winning title and broadcast it on 3sat.

o.T.

director: Anna Berger

Germany 2005

Statement:

The 3sat Promotional Award goes to the film "o.T." by Anna Berger. The film deals with the pain felt at the death of one's mother. A young woman's voice-over talks about the impossibility of coming to terms with this pain through various therapies. She does this with the same laconic humour which marks the images of the film. They are images of absurd moments which reveal the faultline running through the world, when everything in life seems somehow wrong. It makes us laugh, but this laughter is always a way to recognise a pain that won't go away. Anna Berger uses simple means to find strong images and words for a form of mourning based on humour.

Special Mention of the Jury of the German Competition

Gut möglich, dass ich fliegen kann

director: Anna Doose

Germany 2006

with you

director: Eva Könnemann

Germany 2006

Statement:

The German Jury also awards special mentions to two films which in our opinion demonstrate in different ways how films can be made. The first is "Gut möglich, dass ich fliegen kann" by Hanna Doose who uses the means of the short film to direct a complete melodrama, finding a surprising expression for the excess of emotions generated here in musical interludes. The other is "with you" by Eva Könneman who films an individual character in a real situation with only a voice-over to combine the images into a narrative.