25/08/2009

At the 15th Sarajevo Film Festival (August 12-20), Manfred Schmidt, who has headed the central German regional fund Mitteldeutschen Medienförderung GmbH (MDM) since 1998, received the Special Heart of Sarajevo Award, which every year honours the exceptional commitment of a film industry professional.

Schmidt’s work at MDM has made it possible to finance not only major German titles (such as Oskar Roehler’s The Elementary Particles [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Franka Potente & Moritz Ble…
interview: Oskar Roehler
film profile], Andreas Dresen’s new film Whisky with Vodka [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andreas Dresen
film profile], soon to be the subject of a Focus by Cineuropa, and Sönke Wortmann’s highly-anticipated Pope Joan [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), but also acclaimed European co-productions (Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michael Haneke
film profile]), including projects with Eastern Europe ( Snow [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Bosnia’s Aida Begic and Delta [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kornél Mundruczó
interview: Orsi Tóth
film profile] by Hungary’s Kornel Mundruczo).

Schmidt’s strong belief in the region’s potential is also demonstrated by MDM’s annual participation in co-production markets with an eastern focus, including Cottbus and Sarajevo’s CineLink. This year, the latter presented several co-productions backed by the German regional fund.

Besides Begic, the MDM is also supporting fellow Bosnian director Jasmila Zbanic’s new project, On the Path.

(Translated from French)