INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

GRAND PRIX
Prize of 15,000 Euros given by the STATE OF BADEN-WUERTTEMBERG AND CITY OF STUTTGART GRAND AWARD FOR ANIMATED FILM to:
"FRANZ KAFKA INAKA ISHA" (FRANZ KAFKA’S A COUNTRY DOCTOR)
directed by Koji Yamamura, Japan 2007
Producers: Mariko Seto, Fumi Teranishi
Production: Yamamura Animation, Shochiku
World sales: Shochiku Co., Ltd.

INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION AWARD / AWARD FOR BEST GRADUATION FILM
Prize: 10,000 Euros given to: "CAMERA OBSCURA"
directed by Matthieu Buchalski, Jean-Michel Drechsler, Thierry Onillon, France 2007
Production: Supinfocom Valenciennes
World sales: Premium Films

SPECIAL MENTION: "MILK TEETH"
directed by Tibor Banoczki, Great Britain 2007
Producer: Anna Higgs
Production: National Film and Television School

SWR AUDIENCE AWARD
Prize of 6,000 Euros, sponsored by Südwestrunfunk SWR given to: "ISABELLE AU BOIS DORMANT" (SLEEPING BETTY)
directed by Claude Cloutier, Canada 2007
Producer: Marcel Jean
Production/ world sales: National Film Board of Canada

SPECIAL AWARD: MUSIC FOR ANIMATION
Prize of 5,000 Euros, sponsored by the GEMA Foundation given to: "HEZURBELTZAK, UNA FOSA COMUN" (HEZURBELTZAK, A COMMON GRAVE)
directed by Iziben Onederra, Spain 2007
Producer: Pello Gutierrez
Music: Xaber Erkizia
World sales: Kimuak

YOUNG ANIMATION

AWARD FOR BEST STUDENT FILM
Prize of 2,500 Euros, sponsored by the Landesanstalt für Kommunikation Baden-Württemberg given to: "1977"
directed by Peque Varela, Great Britain 2007
Producer: Gavin Humphries / National Film and Television School

SPECIAL MENTION: "DIONYSOS"
directed by Jörg Weidner, Anke Späth, Germany 2007
Production: Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg

TRICKS FOR KIDS

AWARD FOR BEST CHILDREN’S ANIMATED FILM
Prize of 4,000 Euros, sponsored by Nick given to: "THE CURSE OF THE SKULL ROCK"
directed by Ben Smith, Great Britain 2007
Producer: Ben Smith
Production: Red Star Studio Ltd.
World sales: Attraction Media & Entertainment

SPECIAL MENTION: "THE WRONG TRAINERS"
directed by Kez Margrie, Great Britain 2006
Production: BBC
World Sales: Slinky Pictures

and "WAS DENKST DU ÜBER: LIEBE?"
directed by Karsten Killerich, Germany, Denmark, Ireland 2007
Producers: Anders Mastrup, Ralph Christian
Production: WDR, Magma Films, A. Film
World Sales: Bavaria Media Television

ANIMOVIE

AWARD FOR BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
2,500 Euros

SLIPP JIMMY FRI (FREE JIMMY)
by Christopher Nielsen
Norway, Great Britain 2006
Producers: Lars Andreas Hellebust, Lars Tømmerbakke, Bill Godfrey
Production: Storm Studio
World sales: The Works International

ANIMATED SERIES

AWARD FOR BEST TV ANIMATED SERIES
Prize of 2,500 Euros sponsored by EM. Entertainment given to: "HAIRY SCARY: NO. 33"
directed by Wolf-Rüdiger Bloss, France, Germany 2007
Producers: Christian Davin, Clément Calvet
Production / world sales: Alphanim

ANIMATION SCREENPLAY AWARD

AWARD FOR THE BEST GERMAN LANGUAGE SCREENPLAY FOR A FEATURE-LENGTH ANIMATED FILM
Prize of 5,000 Euros donated by the Evangelical Church in Germany given to: "DER LETZTE NEANDERTALER" (THE LAST NEANDERTHAL MAN)
Author: John Chambers

International Short Film Festival Oberhausen 2008 - Juried Awards for the German Films Competition:

Prize for the Best Contribution to the German Competition (EUR 5,000): "Die Tragöden aus der Stadt"
Director: Eva Könnemann, Germany 2008
Statement: Eva Könnemann’s film convinced us through its complexity, its sense of humour and efficient montage. The director follows the rehearsals of a production of “Hamlet” by Fabian Hinrichs and Laurent Chétouane, which results in some intelligent interaction between Shakespeare’s play and the plot of the film. The film offers profound insights into the creative process with all its contradictions, highs and lows.

We have chosen four films which illustrate an escalated social reality in different ways.

3sat-Promotional-Award -ex aequo-

3sat-Promotional-Award (EUR 2,500; ex aequo: EUR 1,250) for a work with a particulary innovative approach. This award includes an option for 3sat to purchase the winning title and broadcast it on 3sat:

"Supersensibel"
Director: Xenia Yvon Lesniewski, Germany 2008
Statement: What we liked about Supersensibel was the way the director combines pop animation with the playful representation of a polymorph sexuality, adding enigmatic comments which lend the film a furious energy.

3sat-Promotional-Award -ex aequo-

3sat-Promotional-Award (EUR 2,500, ex aequo: EUR 1,250) for a work with a particulary innovative approach. This award includes an option for 3sat to purchase the winning title and broadcast it on 3sat.

"I Killed the Butterflies"
Director: Cyrill Lachauer, Germany 2007
Statement: "I Killed the Butterflies" finds archaic images for a ritual of liberation set in a wintery mountain landscape. The rough, unpolished camera corresponds to the physical immediacy of this film.

Special Mention of the Jury of the German Competition:
"Heidelberg"
Director: Norman Richter, Germany 2008

"Eure Kinder werden so wie wir" (Your Children Will Be Like Us)
Director: Andree Korpys and Markus Löffler, Germany 2007
Statement: In Heidelberg , Norman Richter takes a trip back into his family history. He reflects on memory, decline and death in quiet, precise images, circling around the pain connected with these things.

"Eure Kinder werden so wie wir" is one of the few films in this programme to choose a political subject. Andree Korpys and Markus Löffler film the confrontations between protesters and policemen in Gorleben and Heiligendamm as an apparently ritualised trial of strength.

Jury of the German Competition 2008: Maria Speth, Cristina Nord, Claus Löser

Children and Youth Competition

Prize of the Children Jury (EUR 1,000): "Koest!"
director: Simone van Dusseldorp, Netherlands 2007
Statement: This film is funny, but it has a serious background. A boy behaves like a dog to recover his parents’ attention. We think that unfortunately this is the everyday life in many families. The strong acting also convinced us.

and "Animatou"
director: Claude Luyet, Switzerland 2007
Statement: The cat and the mouse were animated in various ways. The film shows the technical and artistic possibilities and represents a “journey through time”, from pencil drawings to computer animation.

Prize of the Youth Jury (EUR 1,000): "Pajerama"
director: Leonardo Cadaval, Brazil 2008
Statement: Urbanity – ignorance – the rain forest. This fast-paced animated story of a Brazilian native Indian starts with a harmless hunt. The film manages, without words, to depict the conflict between civilization and nature in fascinating animated pictures. The tension between the cultures is underlined by an intelligently adapted noise and sound design. An audiovisual masterpiece, produced almost single-handedly by the director.

Special Mention of the Youth Jury: "The Sound of People"
director: Simon Fitzmaurice, Ireland 2007
Statement: “The day I die the Internet arrives.” The director manages to find an impressive and poetic visual language to convey his philosophical reflections on life and death.

Children Jury 2008: Max Komes, Jasper Marten Köster, Hannah Mendrina, Fabian Spickeneder, Linnéa Doberstein

Youth Jury 2008: Deborah Tabea Luhnau, Ruth Lange, Sebastian Busch, Jannik Süselbeck, Kim Werth

MuVi-Award:

1st Prize (2,500 euros): "Ich bin der Stricherjunge"
a video by: Simone Gilges
music: Stereo Total
production: SimGil Production
label: Disko B
Germany, 2007
Jury Statements: It has the essence of pop, it’s showing friends, fashion and fun, it’s spontaneous, improvised, authentic, do it yourself and shows good production values. The visual aesthetics are connected in a good way to the lo-fi sound of the song. The director seems part of the scene, at least he shares the style-codes of the band. The best stuff comes from something that you are passionate about. It’s a document of the Berlin punk scene.

2nd Prize (1,500 euros): "Das beste deutsche Musikvideo"
director: Luigi Archetti, Bo Wiget
production: Archetti & Wiget
music: Luigi Archetti, Bo Wiget
label: Happy System
Germany, 2008
Jury Statements: It’s ironic, trippy, pretentious, obviously arty, though the music and video were going really well together. It plays with the conventions of music videos, it’s an anti choreography, anti video, simple and elegant. It made us debate and since it became number two, it’s not the “bestes deutsches musikvideo”.

3rd Prize (1,000 euros): "Dot"
director: Jörg Petri
production: Jörg Petri
musik: Michael Fakesch
label: !K7 Records
Germany, 2007
Jury Statements: The method is its strength: it focuses on one simple idea, connecting traditional craftsmanship to contemporary aesthetics, making good use of the constraints of the letterpress.

Jury of the MuVi Award 2008: Libby Durdy, Warp Films, Sheffield; Jan Jelinek, musician, Berlin; Roel Wouters, director, Amsterdam

The MuVi Online Audience Award:
The MuVi Online Audience Award is determined by the all internet users who cast their votes at www.muvipreis.de (500 euros). It goes to: "Aus meinem Kopf" (Erdmöbel)
director: Sandeep Mehta
production: Sandeep Mehta
music: Erdmöbel
label: Sony BMG,
Germany, 2007

The winner of the MuVi Online Audience Award is chosen by Internet users who cast their votes at www.muvi-preis.de (in co-operation with www.intro.de and Hobnox).

Jury FIPRESCI 2008: Anjelika Artyukh (Russia), Mark Peranson (Canada), Rüdiger Suchsland (Germany

Prize of the Jury of FIPRESCI (Jury of International Film Critics): "Nezrimoe"
director: Pavel Medvedev, Russia 2007
Statement: Taking the G8 summit in St. Petersburg in 2006 as an example, director Pavel Medvedev exposes the rituals of the contemporary business of politics in Nezrimoe: The tired choreography of the press, the brutal ballet of horrendous security machines, the rusty gestures of symbol politics. Like an ethnologist, he approaches the subject from the edges. Images that stand for themselves, without commentary or additional music and which no doubt belong to the large screen and invite the viewer to look again and again add up to this quite elegant film full of reserved, exact observation, full of sensitivity and which, in addition, tells us a lot about the present conditions of oligarchy and Putinism in Russia. A film of distances: as an alienating contrast, there is a graveyard and a stonemason, who chisels away at gravestones. This reminds us of Brecht and his lines on the transience of power: “At the Moldau the stones are moved/Three emperors are buried in Prague/The great one stays great, but the small one not small/The night has twelve hours and then already comes the break of day.”

Prize of the Jury of the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia (EUR 5,000): "Parlez-moi d´amour"
director: Alexia Bonta, Belgium 2008

Statement: A hospital – two old women at the end of their lives. When faced with such circumstances, we usually associate them with decay and death. In "Parlez moi d’amour," Belgian filmmaker Alexia Bonta shows us that this attitude may be careless, that there is a lot of experience to collect here, a knowledge relevant to all of us.

Using a formally reduced documentary approach, the director manages to make two people talk, to make them communicate their experience of life, but also their disappointments, their stubbornness and their sense of humor to the succeeding generation.

For this conversation about love and intimacy, supposedly at the wrong time in the wrong place, the jury of the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia awards its prize to Alexia Bonta and her film Parlez moi d’amour.

The Jury of the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia 2008: Christiane Heuwinkel (Bielefeld), Michael Girke (Herford), Klaus Gronenborn (Köln), Rainer
Komers (Mülheim/Ruhr), Ruth Schiffer (Düsseldorf)

Prize of the Ecumenical Jury (EUR 1,500): "Senko"
director: Kawamura Yuki, France 2008
Statement: A young Japanese family is confronted with the mother’s death. This impressive short feature film shows us in deeply symbolic images how little Yu and his father are born up by the security offered by the family.

Special Mention of the Ecumenical Jury: "Setu"
director: Shyamal Karmakar/Sanghamitra Karmakar, India 2007
Statement: In an Indian boomtown, a little girl is trying to preserve its childhood world. In highly contrasting images, this documentary shows how childhood is threatened by urbanization.

The Ecumenical Jury 2007: Irina Grassmann (Germany), Wolfgang Luley (Germany), Christian Murer (Switzerland), Eberhard Streier (Germany), Perter F. Stucki (Switzerland)

Prize of the Cinema Jury for the best 35mm film under 15 minutes in the International and German Competition, in connection with a buying option on the awarded work by the Short Film Agency Hamburg: "Jos Kaadun"
director: Hannaleena Hauru, Finland 2007
Jury Statement: At a first glance, the finnish production "Jos Kaadun" tells an everyday story – nevertheless the film provides different levels of access, amongst them a documentary approach. Many fondly observed details and the high technical quality make the film a screen-filling cinematic experience.

Prize of the Cinema Jury for the best 35mm film under 15 minutes in the Children's and Youth Competition, in connection with a buying option on the awarded work by the Short Film Agency Hamburg: "Tôt ou tard"
director: Jadwiga Kowalska, Switzerland 2007
Statement: The animation "Tôt ou tard" from Switzerland impresses with its simple, poetic story and with its appropriate technical realization. A film about day, night, and the power of friendship, entertaining both for children and adults.

Cinema Jury 2008: Juliette Duret (Belgium), Ingrid Lüdeke (Germany), Christian Wichmann (Germany)

Prize of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen (EUR 500): "Armulaud"
director: Jaan Toomik, Estonia, 2007
Statement: The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen awards its prize to a disturbing film which reflects, in a few precise scenes, a man’s fear of commitment who can find comfort neither in his relationship nor in religious communities nor in nature.

International Short Film Festival Oberhausen 2008:
Jury of the International Competition 2008: Alessio Cavallaro, curator, Australia; Shai Heredia, curator, India; Mihnea Mircan, curator, Romania; Keith Sanborn, media artist, theorist and curator, USA; Zelimir Zilnik, filmmaker, Serbia

International Jury Awards:
Grand Prize of the City of Oberhausen (EUR 7,500):
"Chainsaw"
director: Dennis Tupicoff, Australia 2007
Statment: For its masterful synthesis of social commentary, formal experimentation, and its exploration of bareback riding both within the rodeo arena and beyond.

Principal Prize (EUR 3,500): "Alexandra"
director: Radu Jude, Romania 2007
Statement: For revealing an honest image of the complex emotional terrain of family life through a rigorous and understated use of cinematic means.

Principal Prize (EUR 3,500): "Kak stat stervoi"
director: Alina Rudnitskaya, Russia 2008
Statement: For its poignant reflections on the reconstruction of femininity in post-communist Russia.

ARTE Prize for a european short film (EUR 2,500): "Kempinsky"
director: Neil Belouta, France 2007
Statement: For its disquieting evocation of a world emerging from the shadows of a kidnapped future.

Special Mention of the international Jury: "Running Sushi"
director: Mara Mattuschka and Chris Harring, Austria 2008

Special Mention of the international Jury: "Jai"
director: Anocha Suwichakornpong, Thailand 2007

The 53rd International Short Film Festival Oberhausen came to an end on 8 May 2007 with an awards ceremony before a full house. Festival director Lars Henrik Gass was satisfied with the results: despite a significant fall-off in the Children's and Youth Cinema entries, the festival had been able to keep its attendance figures nearly constant, with 16,000 admissions this year. This can be attributed to a significant rise in both ticket sales and accreditations.

Considerably fewer school classes came to see the Children's and Youth Cinema programme this year, traditionally one of the best attended. Presumably responsible for this drop in attendance were the state-wide comparative academic tests conducted for some age groups during the festival days, as well as stricter rules on missed classroom hours. Gass announced that he would be speaking with the City of Oberhausen about measures to improve this situation.

The International and German Competitions as well as the MuVi Award have maintained their traditional top position as by far the most popular screenings. It was quite surprising and especially gratifying, though, that the theme-based programme "Kinomuseum" attracted large audiences, despite the complex issues it treated. The Market Screenings of current catalogues of international experimental film distributors, successfully introduced in 2006 and extended in 2007, likewise enjoyed sold-out theatres for almost every show this year. "We saw a great need for a specialized international marketplace for this type of work, which is not at home in other markets. And the success of the screenings for both the distributors and the professional audience proves that we were right", commented Gass.

The Short Film Festival would like to congratulate Pavel Medvedev, whose film "On the Third Planet from the Sun" won the Grand Prize of the City of Oberhausen, and takes this opportunity to announce that the 54th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen will take place from 1 to 6 May 2008.

Oberhausen, 23 May 2007

Press contact: Sabine Niewalda, Tel +49 (0)208 825-3073, niewalda @ kurzfilmtage.de

Principal Prize: “Metamorphosis”
Directed by: Clare Langan

Prize of the Jury of the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia: “Capitalism: Slavery”
Directed by: Ken Jacobs

Grand Prize of the City of Oberhausen: “On the Third Planet from the Sun”
Directed by: Pavel Medvedev

Prize of the Jury of FIPRESCI: “Kramasha”
Directed by: Amit Dutta

Prize for the Best Contribution to the German Competition: “Mammal”
Directed by: Astrid Rieger

The MuVi Online Audience Award: “1., 2., 3. (Bela B. feat. Charlotte Roche)”
Directed by: Norbert Heitker

First Prize: “Domin, libra nos”
Directed by: Oliver Pietsch

2nd Prize: “I Have Seen You Dancing Better Than This”
Directed by: Luigi Archetti, Bo Wiget

3rd Prize: “H.O.N.D. Aerobic”
Directed by: Mariola Brillowska

Special Mention of the international Jury: “Orquesta típica”
Directed by: Nicolas Entel

Special Mention of the international Jury: “We Will Win”
Directed by: Mahmoud Hojeij

Special Mention of the international Jury: “Mic Jean-Louis”
Directed by: Kathy Sebbah

Prize of the Ecumenical Jury: “Tolya”
Directed by: Rodeon Brodsky

Special Mention of the Ecumenical Jury: “We Will Win”
Directed by: Mahmoud Hojeij

Special Mention of the Ecumenical Jury: “Nemam ti sta rec' lijepo”
Directed by: Goran Devic

Prize for the Best Contribution to the German Competition: “Vali Asr - Juli 2006”
Directed by: Norman Richter

Prize for the Best Contribution to the German Competition: “Three Notes”
Directed by: Jeannette Gaussi

Prize of the International Short Film Festival
Oberhausen: “Ägtux”
Directed by: Tania Anaya

3sat-Promotional-Award: “Hit the Floor”
Directed by: Kays Khalil

Prize of the Children Jury: “Under There”
Directed by: Jeremy Lanni
Special Mention of the Youth Jury: “Emily's Song”
Directed by: Thomas Kennedy and Frank Kelly

Prize of the Cinema Jury for the best 35mm film
under 15 minutes in the Children's and Youth
Competition: “The Girl Who Swallowed Bees”
Directed by: Paul McDermott

Special Mention of the Youth Jury: “Emilka placze”
Directed by: Rafal Kapelinski

Special Mention of the Children Jury: “Ediths glasslott”
Directed by: Tove Cecilie Sverdrup, Sunniva Nervik

Special Mention of the Children Jury: “Poes en de maan”
Directed by: Suzanne Tuynman