AWARDS FOR GERMAN SHORTS AT INTERNATIONAL FESTIVALS

In recent months, German short films gained awards recognition at many international festivals, here’s a selection: THE CHICKEN by Una Gunjak continues its successful run that started 2014 in Cannes by winning the Grand Jury Prize – Best Live-Action Short at the Seattle International Film Festival. SYMBOLIC THREATS by Mischa Leinkauf, Lutz Henke and Matthias Wermke received a nomination for the European Film Award 2015 (EFA) at the Norwegian Short Film Festival Grimstad. Already an EFA nominee, DISSONANCE by Till Nowak adds the Krakow Don Quixote Award to its expanding list of awards, as well as the Cinema Jove Valencia’s Premio Canal+ and the Annecy Animation Festival’s Best Original Music Award for a Short Film. Also in Annecy, ROADTRIP by Xaver Xylophon won the Junior Jury’s Award for a Graduation Film, following its Audience Award in the Brussels Short Film Festival’s International Next Generation Competition. EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY by Patrick Vollrath won the Alberto Sánchez Special Award at the Huesca Film Festival and was selected for the European Film Promotion’s inaugural Future Frames Program at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. Short Tiger 2015 winner THE PRESENT by Jacob Frey received the Hermína Tyrlová Award for Young Filmmakers under 35 at the Zlin Festival for Children & Youth, the Best Children’s Film Award at the Animafest Zagreb, an Honorable Mention-Best Student Animation at the Palm Springs ShortFest and the Best Curtinhas Short Award at Curtas Vila do Conde. Other German prize-winners at Vila do Conde include BÄR by Pascal Flörks as Best Documentary of the International Competition. And finally, SHIFT by Alex Gerbaulet, winner of the 2015 German Competition at Oberhausen, was honored with the First Film Prize upon its international premiere at the FIDMarseille.

THE PRESENT (photo © Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg)