The Award Winners of the North German Film Prize 2008

Within the framework of the 50th Nordic film Days Lübeck, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein has awarded the North German Film Prize in three categories: the North German Film Prize for “Best Feature Film”, endowed with 20,000 euros, goes to "Robert Zimmermann wundert sich über die Liebe" by Leander Haußmann. The jury congratulates the producers Detlev Buck, Claus Boje and Sonja Schmitt on their “filmic fireworks display, fanning out the various types of love with an abundance of imagination and finesse”. Last year already saw Gernot Gricksch being awarded the North German Film Prize for the screenplay of "Robert Zimmermann wundert sich über die Liebe". The North German Film Prize in the category “Best Screenplay”, endowed with 10,000 euros, goes to Özgür Yildirim. The jury was very impressed by the suspenseful and well construed screenplay of his gangster drama "Chiko". Yildirim, a graduate in film studies at Hamburg Media School, has succeeded in making a genre film without resorting to Americanisms, setting it very believably in present-day Hamburg.  The prize for “Best Documentary”, endowed with 15,000 euros, goes to the filmmaker Beatrix Schwehm, from Bremen, for her striking portrait "Luise - Eine deutsche Muslima ou L'Islam Par Amour" about a young German woman who converts to the Islamic faith when she is 19. The director approaches the topic with great sensitivity and presents two self-contained views of the world, of mother and daughter respectively, beyond all clichés and polemics. The Award for Special Merits, presented by the States of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein and endowed with 10,000 euros,  goes to Hark Bohm, a “true-blue North German”, who “has given vital impulses to filmic life in Northern Germany” like no other, as put by laudators Peter Harry Carstensen, Minister-President of the State of Schleswig-Holstein, and the Senator for Cultural Affairs of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Prof. Dr. Karin von Welck.

Norddeutscher Filmpreis
North German Film Prize

Bester Spielfilm
Best Feature Film

Robert Zimmermann wundert sich über die Liebe
Boje Buck Produktion (Claus Boje, Detlev Buck,  Sonja Schmitt)

Statement of the Jury

"Robert Zimmermann wundert sich über die Liebe" is a filmic fireworks display, fanning out the various types of love with an abundance of imagination and finesse. An outstanding sense of timing and high virtuosity allow the film to unfold its own world, which is masterfully filled with filmic clichés and depictions of German reality. The triviality of everyday life is ironically and skilfully exaggerated. All the while the film remains harmonious thanks to a wonderful acting ensemble and a devastatingly charming lead actor. And a congenial soundtrack by “Element of Crime” makes "Robert Zimmermann wundert sich über die Liebe" an altogether delightful experience. The jury congratulates the producers Sonja Schmitt, Claus Boje and Detlev Buck on a film whose original signature makes it stands out.

Bestes Drehbuch
Best Screenplay

Chiko
Özgür Yildirim

Jurybegründung /Statement of the Jury

The gangster drama "Chiko" boasts a convincing, suspenseful and well construed screenplay full of energy, developing a strong pull on the viewer by means of its fast pace. The author Özgür Yildirim has succeeded in making a genre film without resorting to Americanisms. It is set very believably in present-day Hamburg. The language spoken by its characters is drastic and authentic. From the very beginning the viewer feels involved with the lead character Chiko and his ambivalences without having to approve his actions. Chiko, driven by the desperate will to escape his surroundings, ultimately becomes a frenzied murderer seeking revenge. In the end he realizes that he has gone too far. The offender turns victim, such  is the logical consequence in a spiral of escalation. The jury congratulates Özgür Yildirim on his first-class screenplay.


Beste Dokumentation
Best Documentary

Luise - Eine deutsche Muslima ou L'Islam Par Amour
Beatrix Schwehm

Jurybegründung/ Statement of the Jury

The film depicts the life of a young German woman, who converts to the Islamic faith when she is 19. The director approaches the topic with great sensitivity and impressively presents two self-contained views of the world that meet in a discourse. The dialogue between Luise’s mother, who had hoped for her daughter to live a liberated life, and Luise, who seems completely taken up with the Islamic faith and e.g. now wears a headscarf with utter conviction, goes under one’s skin. The film succeeds in presenting both women’s positions without taking sides. Thus the documentary film by filmmaker Beatrix Schwehm, from Bremen, is not only a film about the relationship between two women, but also a didactic play on the relationship and dealings between two different spheres of life – beyond clichés, polemics and headlines. The jury congratulates Beatrice Schwehm on an outstanding achievement as a director. 

Preis für besondere Verdienste
Award for Special Merits

Hark Bohm

“We are honouring a versatile artist and filmmaker, who is closely affiliated with Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. He was the representative of New German Cinema after Fassbinder and Herzog. Hark Bohm often chose Hamburg and the coastal regions of Northern Germany as a characterizing backdrop for his films, thus painting an impressive picture of our North German homeland.” (Peter Harry Carstensen, Minister-President of  the State of Schleswig-Holstein)
“Hark Bohm has given vital impulses to filmic life in Northern Germany. We owe many important institutions to his commitment, without which our current cinematic infrastructure would be unthinkable: he is the father of Filmfest Hamburg and of film studies, which he creatively shaped as their head, first at Hamburg University and from 2003 on at Hamburg Media School” (Prof. Dr. Karin von Welck, Senator for Cultural Affairs of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg)