Month: October 2019

We are delighted to announce that DFFB graduate Lothar Herzog won the 2019 Hof Gold Prize of the Friedrich Baur Foundation for his film 1986 during the award ceremony on Saturday evening. The Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts in memory of Heinz Badewitz awarded Herzog a certified gold bar of 1 kg of fine gold worth approximately €43,000. The prize also features a year of creative advice to the director regarding the development of a new film.

Director Edgar Reitz (whose films include HEIMAT, DIE ANDERE HEIMAT) was the mentor for the Hof Gold Prize 2018, which was awarded to Luzie Loose for SCHWIMMEN. This year Bernhard Sinkel, director, screenwriter, producer, and head of the film department of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts, has taken over this task.

 

The film is a co-production of Rohfilm Productions GmbH and DFFB.

Congratulations to Lothar Herzog and his whole team!

 

Photocredit: Hofer Filmtage

This year—like previous years—several DFFB films will screen at the 53rd International Hof Film Festival, one of the oldest and most important film festivals in Germany:

1986 (Dir./Script: Lothar Herzog, Cinematography: Philipp Baben der Erbe, Prod.: Romana Janik, Benny Drechsel) will screen in the feature film competition section. 1986 won the NO FEAR Award at First Steps and celebrated its world premiere at the 15th Zurich Film Festival.

Chichinette – How I Accidentally Became a Spy (Dir./Script: Nicola Alice Hens, Prod.: Amos Geva), which just won the Special Mention Award at the 35th HAIFA International Film Festival, will screen in the documentary competition section.

Both films will celebrate their German premiere at the festival.

Four short films from the DFFB will also be presented:

CHAOS (Dir./Script/Prod.: Samuel Auer, Cinematography: Lukas Eylandt)
FREISCHWIMMER (Dir.: Gaya von Schwarze, Script: Mirko Rachor, Gaya von Schwarze, Josephine Oleak, Cinematography: Raban Jakob Friedrich, Prod.: Ibrahim-Utku Erdogan, Leonie Schäfer)
NIGHTFALL (Dir./Script: Josefine Scheffler, Prod.: Grischa Sautter)
REVOLVO (Dir./Script: Francy Fabritz, Cinematography: Antonia Lange, Prod.: Sara Fazilat).

And our alumni will be present at the festival too: Connie Walther with her film DIE RÜDEN. Der Film, Florian Aigner with ImNiemandsland, and Jan Speckenbach with A.N.N.A.

We wish everyone a successful screening. Enjoy the exciting discussions, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed for the award ceremony!

The graduation film CHICHINETTE – HOW I ACCIDENTALLY BECAME A SPY by DFFB graduate Nicola Alice Hens celebrated its world premiere last week at the 35th HAIFA International Film Festival and won the Special Mention Award.

99-year-old Martha Cohn accepted the award personally. Congratulations to the whole team!

©Ziv Amar

About the film:

The documentary tells the story of the French spy of Jewish origin Marthe Cohn, better known as Chichinette, who after 60 years, finally breaks her silence and tells her extraordinary story. It is the story of a woman who, at just 4 feet 5 inches in height, beats the odds and fights the Nazis as a spy. At the age of 99, she now tours the world sharing her message to all generations.