On Wednesday evening, the 20th Attention Berlin Film Festival, the most important showcase for young German films from Berlin-Brandenburg, came to an end at the Babylon cinema. In total, the New Berlin Film Awards were presented in 15 categories, with prizes worth a total of 35,000 euros. “Arthur & Diana” by Sara Summa was named best feature film. The film’s producers, Cecilia Trautvetter and Lisa Roling from the German Film and Television Academy Berlin, also received an award for best production.
The winning film is about a brother and sister who set off on a road trip to France, which turns out to be more complicated than planned thanks to all sorts of turbulent incidents – told with documentary elements.
The directing award went to Hannes Schilling for “Good News,” about a young Berlin journalist who seeks contact with a group of rebels in Thailand. Nele Dehnenkamp, a graduate of the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy, received the award for best documentary film for “For the Time Being”.
Her film is about the American Michelle Bastien-Archer, who fights for the release of her husband, who has been sentenced to death. Katharina Lüdin’s “And that one can live without deception” won three prizes, for best script (Katharina Lüdin), best acting (Godehard Giese) and best cinematography (Katharina Schelling).
“The diversity of the award-winning films reflects the festival program wonderfully,” explained festival directors Regina Kräh and Sebastian Brose. They praised a program with commitment and attitude “that shows how film, like hardly any other medium, can present obvious, but often neglected and almost forgotten concerns across all different narrative styles, formats and genres.”
The management duo also raves about the great response from the Berlin audience. “The encounter between filmmakers and audiences is the essence of our festival, as are the encounters between filmmakers and each other. Experiencing this is the source of our motivation to tackle the 21st ‘Aehrung Berlin’ film festival starting tomorrow.” (tsp)