“The Stranger in Me” was the big surprise of the festival’s Closing Night. Emily Atef’s social drama won all three of the festival’s awards:

The German Independence Award – Best German Film, the German Independence Award – Audience Award and the Otto-Sprenger-Award.

The 15th Oldenburg International Film Festival ended on the evening of September 14 with the award ceremony for the German Independence Award and the Otto-Sprenger-Award.

The winner of the German Independence Award – Best German Film is Emily Atef’s “The Stranger in Me”. The award is worth 5000 Euro and was presented by jury-president LeVar Burton and Mayor Dr. Gerd Schwandner.

The jury praised the film’s “originality, the strength of the story and the exceptional quality of the actors”.

This year the jury specially mentioned two performances of female actors. Susanne Wolff displayed her impressive multilayered talents in two films at the festival: “The Stranger in Me” (Emily Atef) and “Happy People” (Jan Georg Schütte). Irina Potapenko gave a convincing newcomer performance with her emotional and powerful acting in “Revanche” by Götz Spielmann.

The German Independence Award – Audience Award also went to “The Stranger in Me” by Emily Atef. The EWE-sponsored award is worth 2000 Euro. The winner also receives an Avid editing software suite.

The third award won by Emily Atef’s “The Stranger in Me” is the Otto-Sprenger-Award also worth 2000 Euro.

During the Cinema-brunch on Sunday September 14th the winner of the 500 Euro short film competition was announced at the CinemaxX: “Side Effect” by Liz Adams.