Archive notice: This article was originally published on October 18, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
LÜDIA competition
Festival director Michael Wiedemann observes a “renaissance of genre cinema” in the Lünen competition for feature-length films: “We noticed a welcome shift toward more variety in the choice of subjects and style among the submissions,” says Wiedemann. “The young filmmakers venture fearlessly into crime films or comedies, even horror films, and do so with the highest skill.”
The big subject in the competition is the family, whether as a comedy or drama. In the comedy WE SAY YOU! DARLING (director: Marc Meyer), a lonely man simply kidnaps a family together for himself at Christmas. In BLIND FLIGHT (director: Ben von Grafenstein) and THE BLIND SPOT (director: Tom Zenker), the protagonists must cope with their families threatening to fall apart, while JAKOB’S BROTHER by Daniel Walta is a road movie in which two brothers have to pull themselves together again.
With LEROY, Armin Völckers delivers a witty comedy in which the black hero falls in love, of all people, with a girl whose family even names its budgerigars after Hitler’s helpers. The five young people in Sonja Heiss’ HOTEL VERY WELCOME are searching for meaning in Asia, while Andy Fetscher’s horror film BUCHAREST MEAT designs an oppressive scenario around genetically modified meat in hyper-stylized images.
The three documentaries in the competition place three very different personalities at the center: In OF ONE WHO SET OUT, Marcel Wehn approaches Wim Wenders’ early years; in YOU WILL STILL FLY!, Sigrid Klausmann-Sittler portrays a stilt walker in Ukraine; and finally, in THE WHITE MAN WITH THE BLACK BREAD, Jonas Grosch follows Christof Wackernagel, actor and former RAF member, to Africa. “In all three films, the filmmakers achieve an astonishing closeness to their protagonists,” says Wiedemann.
The main prize in the feature-film competition is the LÜDIA audience award, endowed with 10,000 euros, which also includes subtitling of the film and support for international distribution. The productions also compete for the Berndt Media Prize for the best film title and the Unna District 16+ Student Film Prize, which is decided by a jury of students, as well as, for the first time, the prize for best film music.
Short-film competitions FIRST AID and FIRST GEAR
Eleven short films under 20 minutes compete in Lünen for the FIRST AID prize, which is endowed with 1,600 euros. In addition, the winning film receives subtitling and a presentation at the partner festival 13th Berlin & Beyond in San Francisco. In the FIRST GEAR competition, four medium-length short films of 20 minutes or more compete, likewise for a prize endowed with 1,600 euros. Precisely observed milieu studies, precisely told stories and genre exercises, lovingly designed animations, with subjects ranging from the psychological duel on the executive floor of a corporation through the portrait of a disabled young man, from a 12-year-old’s first date to a widowed farmer’s search for a new beginning, are shown by Lünen in the two competitions.
“We experienced a very high level among the submissions this year – quite evidently 2007 was a good year in German short film and we are proud of a substantial competition programme,” deputy festival director Kathrin Bessert summarizes. With seven of the total of 15 short films, independent productions are in the majority; among the universities, Berlin’s HFF “Konrad Wolf” is ahead with three entries and Cologne’s KHM with two works. Eleven feature films, three animations and one short documentary enter the race.
Children’s film competition ROCKET
In the children’s film competition at the Lünen Film Festival, four entries face the judgment of a jury of children – and the audience: The ROCKET prize, endowed with 3,000 euros, is determined by audience vote. In addition, the Unna District 10+ student jury judges the works – one animation and three feature films – and awards the Unna District 10+ Student Film Prize, endowed with 2,500 euros. In the competition are THE THREE ROBBERS by Hayo Freitag after Tomi Ungerer, HANDS OFF MISSISSIPPI by Detlev Buck, Ben Verbong’s MR BELLO and RACING PIG RUDI RÜSSEL 2 by Peter Timm.
Further links:
- Kinofest L
