Privatisation of a Prize
Actors and directors throughout Germany have joined a campaign against the threatened privatisation of the German equivalent of the Oscars. 400 artists (including the directors Petere Lilienthal, Christian Petzold, Thomas Arslan and Eoin Moore) have signed an open letter to the minister of culture, Christine Weiss, stating their opposition to the creation of a Film Academy to handle the prizes for German cinema, based on the American model for the Oscars.
According to the letter’s signatories, the body would end up favouring already established directors and would turn the awards into a purely commercial exercise, supporting mainstream titles. The prizes for German cinema are currently given to works on the basis of their artistic merits. The protestors are now waiting for a response from the minister.
(Translated from Italian)
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