Some intense emotional and political films marked the programme of the 29^th Filmfest Hamburg, which rolled out a purple carpet this year from 30 September-9 October. By opening the festival with the hard-edged gay drama Great Freedom [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Sebastian Meise, Filmfest Hamburg director Albert Wiederspiel made a strong statement. Many stories among the 110 films that were featured in the different festival sections were about love, LGBT and women’s rights, and political persecution.

French filmmaker Leos Carax received the prestigious Douglas Sirk Award for his work. His most recent musical drama, Annette [+lire aussi :
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Filmfest Hamburg aims to support young filmmakers and to present a broad programme that offers the audience the chance to make new discoveries. In total, prizes worth €130,000 were given out. The Hamburg Producers Award for German Cinema Productions was handed to producers Jonas and Jakob Weydemann (System Crasher [+lire aussi :
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interview : Nora Fingscheidt
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interview : Sabrina Sarabi
fiche film], directed by Sabrina Sarabi. The part of the young woman who wants to escape from the countryside previously earned leading actress Saskia Rosendahl a Leopard for Best Actress at Locarno.

A story about a courageous woman who takes matters into her own hands but is met with opposition in her small village is told by Blerta Basholli in Hive [+lire aussi :
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interview : Blerta Basholli
fiche film]. Based on real events, the drama won the NDR Young Talent Award, which is given to filmmakers for their feature debut or second directorial effort. The Audience Award went to the feature-length documentary Little Palestine (Diary of a Siege) [+lire aussi :
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The Critics’ Choice Award was given to Gaspar Noé’s drama Vortex [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], which is set in the titular area of the French capital. Introduced by leading actors Lucie Zhang and Makita Samba, the black-and-white romance story received CICAE’s Art Cinema Award, worth €5,000, intended to support the marketing campaign of the movie. In Germany, Paris, 13^th District will be released in theatres by Neue Visionen.

For next year’s 30^th-anniversary edition of Filmfest Hamburg, festival director Albert Wiederspiel hopes that the COVID-19 restrictions won’t be necessary any more so that the screening rooms can be up to full capacity once again.

Here is the full list of winners at the 2021 Filmfest Hamburg:

Hamburg Producers Award for German Cinema Productions
No One’s with the Calves [+lire aussi :
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interview : Sabrina Sarabi
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Hamburg Producers Award for International Cinema Co-Productions
Lingui, The Sacred Bonds [+lire aussi :
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interview : Mahamat-Saleh Haroun et Ac…
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Hamburg Producers Award for German TV Productions
Sleepless in Portugal - Florian Froschmayer (Germany)

Douglas Sirk Award
Annette [+lire aussi :
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Special Prize for Serial Formats
Warten auf’n Bus - Ulf Israel, Reik Möller (Germany)

Sichtwechsel Film Award
Olga [+lire aussi :
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interview : Elie Grappe
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NDR Young Talent Award
Hive [+lire aussi :
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interview : Blerta Basholli
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Political Film of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
La Civil [+lire aussi :
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interview : Teodora Ana Mihai
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Critics’ Choice Award
Vortex [+lire aussi :
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Art Cinema Award of the International Association of Art Cinemas (CICAE)
Paris, 13^th District [+lire aussi :
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Commerzbank Audience Award
Little Palestine (Diary of a Siege) [+lire aussi :
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Michel Award for Best Children’s and Youth Film
Ich, Gorilla und der Affenstern - Linda Hambäck (South Korea)