17/07/2003

Dedicated entirely to European cinema, the third edition of the Stuttgart Ludwisburg Filmfest (10-15 July) was a huge success.
Attendance, especially for the British Forum and for the 16-film review German-language films from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, proved particularly popular.
"The festival has taken a big step forward,not just in terms of its popularity with the public but especially for the special atmosphere that was created by our international guests," said the artistic director Gabriele Röthemeyer and Bernd Radtke, president of the Film and Medien Festival, promised that the 4th edition will be even better.
Best film was a draw between the Anglo/Irish co-production, Me Without You by Sandra Goldbacher, produced by Finola Dwyer, and France’s Fureur directed by Karim Dridi.
Oksana Akinshina won the best actress nod for Lukas Moodysson’s Lilja 4 ever [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and the Spanish/Mexican co-production, Aro Tolbukin by Augusti Villaronga, Lydia Zimmermann and Isaac P. Racine won the "Femina" award presented by the Women in Entertainment Association.
The Henrich Böll award for best German-language screenplay was won by Mark Ottiker for Halbe Miete, which he also directed. We Can Be Heroes! (2002) by Sweden’s Ulf Malmros was voted the best children’s film of the year.
The festival had its share of glamour with last Thursday’s gala evening during which Italian diva, Claudia Cardinale received the Ladesbank Baden- Württemberg or LDDW award in recognition of her contribution to Europe's film culture.

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(Translated from Italian)