Prize of the Jury of the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia (EUR 5,000)
Capitalism: Slavery
director: Ken Jacobs
USA 2006
Statment:
The Jury of the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia honours a film that, based on poor-quality found footage, sends the audience on a universal journey. The filmmaker animates a stereoscopic photo of slaves picking cotton into a complex narrative. But the film is not about the mere metamorphosis from static images into moving images. It is about something completely new: the length and rhythm of the movement make the length of the narrative visible again. This cineastic miniature activates the spectator's view and directs it to a present where the economic laws of the historic scenes shown maintain an undiminished validity.
The Jury of the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia 2007:
Christiane Heuwinkel (Bielefeld), Michael Girke (Herford), Klaus Gronenborn (Köln), Rainer Komers (Mülheim/Ruhr), Ulrike Sprenger (Konstanz)
Special Mention of the Jury of the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia
On the Third Planet from the Sun
director: Pavel Medvedev
Russia 2006
Statement:
A seemingly archaic landscape, with lost metal objects scattered about - and people who walk strenuous paths to collect these objects. The objects are the scrap of a future which has now passed, remnants of the history of technology. The location at which the film was made is in the north of Russia, a former test area for rockets and bombs. Pavel Medvedev's documentary film shows not only a life which looks primitive but also is one after the modern age; he makes it possible for us to experience the physical efforts and makes the cinema a space to experience another life.
The Jury of the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia 2007:
Christiane Heuwinkel (Bielefeld), Michael Girke (Herford), Klaus Gronenborn (Köln), Rainer Komers (Mülheim/Ruhr), Ulrike Sprenger (Konstanz)