The award ceremony, where seven awards were presented, took place at the closing night of Filmfest Hamburg at the Cinemax Dammtor, in front of a completely sold out theater. Most of the award-winners were present and thus could receive their awards personally. The Douglas-Sirk-Award and the TV producer award had already been given out during the previous festival days. Julia Westlake hosted the night.

Festival director Albert Wiederspiel was very satisfied with the course of the festival: “This festival went through all seasons, from summer to the early days of winter. At the beginning someone nearly suffered a heat stroke at the festival center, and yesterday we already turned up the heating. This festival does not just transcend weather zones but also borders. On the opening night, we were in Teheran together then moved along to the Mississippi and today we are going to Montréal.”

On first counting we observed a certain increase in the numbers of ticket sales compared to last year. Monsieur Lazhar - one of the award-winners - by Philippe Falardeau was shown as the closing film of the festival.

1.) The Häagen-Dazs Public Award
The winner: King of Devil’s Island
(director: Marius Holst, script: Dennis Magnusson, based on an original story by Lars Saabye Christensen and Metta M. Bølstad, Norway.)
The award, handed out by actress Cosma Shiva Hagen, endowed with 5.000 Euro. 1300 spectators had chosen this film as their favourite out of the best European Box-Office-Hits shown in the section “Eurovisuell”


2.) Art Cinema Award
The winner: Monsieur Lazhar
(directed and written by Phillippe Falardeau, Canada)
From the jury’s statement: “A real teacher who does the wrong thing, and a false teacher who does the right thing. Children stronger than adults; adults helpless and disorientated. Through a human eye the film portrays the dealing with the feeling of loss in a deep and delicate way. The successful stand-up comedian Fellag convinces as Bashir Lazhar”.

For the fourth time the International Society of Art Cinema (C.I.C.A E.) gave out this award. This year the jury consisted of four cinema representatives and owners: Jörg Jacob (Provinz Programmkino/Deutschland), Romy Gysin (Kult.kino/Switzerland), Nikos Grigoriadis (KIZ KinoRoyal/Austria) and Natalia Rivas (El Cinematografo/Peru). The Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig Holstein endows the award with the sum of 5.000 Euro and therefore promotes PR measurements of the German film distribution. Twelve films were nominated.

3.) The award of the Hamburg film critics:
The winner: Take Shelter
(directed and written by Jeff Nichols USA)
From the jury’s statement: “An economical and ecological insecure country, which feels under attack, from inside and from outside. US-director Jeff Nichols precisely analyses the state of his country in the year 2011. With infatuated and disturbing pictures he tells the story of a man whose life falls apart. It is Apocalypse Now; without any shelter to be found. On behalf of Jeff Nichols the award was received by the American Consul General Inmi Patterson.

This year’s jury constisted of Volker Behrens (Hamburger Abendblatt), Thorsten Pilz (NDR 90.3), Bernd Teichmann (Stern) and Daniel Sander (Der Spiegel). The award has been given since 2004 by the magazines “Der Spiegel” and „Stern“, the daily newspaper „Hamburger Abendblatt“ and the radio station NDR 90.3, and is given to a film which distinguishes itself by its innovative view of the present. Twelve films were nominated.

4.) Foreign Press Award
The winner: The Art of Love
(directed and written by Emmanuel Mouret, France)
From the jury’s statement: “Subject of the film are ever reoccurring issues: emotions, love and sex. This is nothing new, most certainly not in theater. Mouret succeeds with surprising wit yet subtle perspective to show this on screen. It is with humour that he portrays what the great word LOVE means to human beings. It is therefore that the audience not only faces a comedy but essential questions: How do we communicate with each other when feelings and lust are standing in our way? How do we overcome the conventions which society commands? And how does one act, without losing the respect for others without hurting them? The jury was enthusiastic about the form, dialogues, creative construction of small sequences as well as the actors’ performances.”

It is the third time that four representatives of the foreign press deliver this award in Germany (VAP e. V.) The jury consisted of Eldad Beck (Achar Jedi’ot onot/Israel), Camilo Jiménez (Semana/Columbia), Sudgi Hamdan (freelancer of DW-TV/Palestine) and Catherine Marie Degrace (ARTE Berlin/France), adding an international perspective to the voice of the German jury of journalists. The same twelve films were nominated as for the award of the Hamburg Film Critics.

5.) The ELFE
The Winner: Avé
(directed and written by Konstantin Bojanov, Bulgaria)
From the jury’s statement: “We have seen amazing, political and crazy films and in between, we found our ELFE (fairy). Not in the woods or in the bushes, where fairies would normally be expected to be found, but here at Filmfest Hamburg. Her name is Avé and she comes from Bulgaria. The inventor of this poetic film is called Konstantin Bojanov. A director with true love for his characters who does not present flat surfaces, but shows an exciting and touching story from beginning to end. The film is extremely well photographed and Bojanov shows his country in an unconventional and tender way.”

This award for the new generation has been given since 2008. This year’s jury consisted of Lars Becker (director and author), Birgit Politycki (literature agent) and Adriana Altaras (actress and theater director). The award is endowed with 5.000 Euro granted by a leading European Advertising film production company (Neue Sentimental Film Hamburg GmbH). Twelve films were nominated for the award.

6.) Montblanc screen writing award
The winner: Simon
(director: Lisa Ohlin, script: Marnie Blok, based on the bestselling book by Marianne Fredrikson, Sweden/Germany/Denmark/Norway and Holland)
From the jury’s statement: “We were sent on a long journey while watching the films nominated. It started in the deepest German province, the Black Forest, and ended in the deepest Chinese province, eleven kilometers from Mao’s place of birth. The script, we considered prize worthy, tells the story of a boy starting in 1939 ending in the fifties in Gothenburg. Growing up with simple and loving parents, he consistently has the feeling not to belong. In the course of the story, the riddle is solved. The protagonist learns that his parents are not his real parents, but that he has Jewish roots. The director never loses sight of reality. In poetic pictures she gives us the hope that different cultures and different generations can live together in peace.”

The award is endowed with 10.000 Euro and is given to a film from the section “Northern Lights”, in cooperation with the traditional company Montblanc. Five productions were nominated all together. The jury consisted of Kathrin Klamroth (agent and dramatic critic), Lothar Kurzawa (author and producer) and Henna Peschel (last year’s winner and filmmaker).

7.) Michel Award from the Michel Children and Youth Film festival
The winner: Ways to live forever
(directed and written by Gustavo Ron, Spain/Great Britain)
From the jury’s statement: “We have chosen this film, as it deals with a subject which in general is not talked about, and is well explained for a young audience. The artistic production and the music we found convincing and harmonious. The film shows how family, friends and children deal with the illness leukaemia. The production is realistic and touching, nevertheless there is room for laughter in this sad film. This Spanish/British production gives children and adults the courage to be strong in a difficult time of life.”

The award was given by Thorsten Flassnöcker, producer at Zieglerfilm Cologne GmbH. His company endowed the award with 5.000 Euro. The award winning producers thanked via video message from London. Nine films were nominated for the award. The Kids-Jury consisted of Anton Knepper, Meret Kopido, Pia Lisa-Marie Wäbs, Pia-Sophie Sternhagen, Sebastian Schub.

The following two awards were already given during the Festival

8.) TV Producer Award
The winner: Tödlicher Rausch
(director: Johannes Fabrick; Producer Ulrich Aselmann). Eleven productions were nominated (for further information see press release from October 7th, 2011).

9.) Douglas-Sirk-Award
This award was given to director Andreas Dresen and his producer Peter Rommel, Germany.
Their film “Stopped on Track” was shown in the Section Agenda 11 (for further information see press release from June 27th, 2011).