22/01/2007

After a week of screenings, Saarbrücken's Max Ophüls Film Festival (January 15-21), a showcase for young talent, announced its winners yesterday.

Best Film went to the documentary and first feature by Korean director Sung-Hyung Cho, Full Metal Village, about a Schleswig-Holstein heavy metal festival. The film was produced by Helge Albers for Flying Moon Filmproduktion.

Gabriela Hegedüs was named Best Actress for her role in Barbara Albert's Austrian film Fallen [+see also:
trailer
film profile], while Florian Bartholomäi won Best Actor for Ingo Rasper's Reine Geschmacksache, in which he stars as a son of a trade representative. The Noir Film production also took the Audience Award and the SR/ZDF Award for Best Screenplay.

The festival also honoured director Elke Hauck, who was awarded the Film Prize from the Saarländischen Ministerpräsidenten for Karger, a Berlin-produced feature by Ö Filmproduktion Löprich & Schlösser about a hero who leaves his town and his family.

Best Documentary and the Interfilmprize went to Arash T. Riahi for his thorough work in Exile Family Movie, produced by Vienna-based outfit Golden Girls Filmproduktion.

Fair Trade (Weltweit Filmproduktion) by Michael Dreher took the Short Film Prize, while the DEFA Förderprize worth €4000 went to Saara Aila Waasner for her documentary Die Gedanken sind frei.

(Translated from French)