Max Ophüls Film Festival
“Electric Fields” three-time award winner
Lisa Gertsch’s film “Electric Fields” won three prizes at the Max Ophüls Prize in Saarbrücken. photo
© Oliver Dietze/dpa
At the end of the festival week for the Max Ophüls Prize, things got exciting on Saturday evening: the coveted prizes for young talent were awarded in Saarbrücken. A Swiss debut is ahead.
The Swiss film “Electric Fields” (CH 2024) by Lisa Gertsch (director and writer) was at the 45th film festival Max Ophüls prize won in Saarbrücken. The black-and-white film received three awards on Saturday evening: the main prize worth 36,000 euros for the best feature film, the Fritz Raff Screenplay Prize and the Film Critics’ Prize.
In a “tragic-comic, longing atmosphere,” according to the feature film jury’s reasoning, the film tells a “surprisingly and magically playful story about love and transience, about longing and loneliness, about the emergence and disappearance of connections, about transcendence, nature and death “. The jury of critics congratulated the Swiss artist (born in 1992) and her team on an “astonishingly mature debut work”.
The festival stands for the discovery of young talent from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. A total of 58 films were in the running for the 18 awards in the four categories of feature film, documentary, medium-length film and short film. Prizes totaling 118,500 euros were awarded for them.
Additional award winners honored
“Beyond the Blue Border” (DE 2024) by Sarah Neumann (director and book) based on a novel by Dorit Linke was also successful at this year’s MOP. The film tells the story of competitive swimmer Hanna, who wants to escape across the Baltic Sea to the West in 1989. It was awarded the Audience Award for Feature Film and the Ecumenical Jury Prize. In addition, actor Willi Geitmann received one of the two awards for the best young actor – alongside Joshua Bader in “Söder” (AT 2024, director: Raoul Bruck).
Two awards also went to “Land der Berge” (AT/DE 2023) by Olga Kosanović (director and book): it was named the best medium-length film by the expert jury and also received the audience award in this category. The best short film was “The Robbers” (AT 2023) by Isa Schieche (director and book).
“Arthur & Diana” (DE 2023) by Sara Summa (director and book) was honored with the Saarland Prime Minister’s Film Prize for best director. The prize for the socially relevant film went to “Good News” (DE 2024) by Hannes Schilling, which, according to the jury, was an “oppressive film” about a journalist who finally wants to make an international breakthrough with a report on a rebel group in Thailand.
Best documentary film was “Echoes from Borderland” (DE 2023) by Lara Milena Brose (director and book). He talks about 15-year-old Nahid, one of many refugees who ended up in the non-EU state of Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2021 after the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan.
Positive conclusion
Festival director Svenja Böttger drew a positive conclusion on Saturday evening: “We look back on a week full of emotions, inspiring discussions and exciting and touching stories in the cinema,” she said. We would like to thank “the film teams from the bottom of our hearts for their trust and for being able to show their works here, which have caused so much enthusiasm.”
According to program manager Theresa Winkler, the filmmakers brought the film festival to life with their works, conversations and discussions and filled many cinema halls and events with interested spectators. Now we are very excited to follow and support the talents’ further path into the industry.
The award ceremony from the Saarbrücken E-Werk was also broadcast online on Saturday evening. The 45th Max Ophüls Prize Film Festival also took place again in dual form. A selection of the films will be available to stream on the film festival website for another week.
The total budget this year was around the same level as the previous year at 1.5 million euros. In addition to many sponsors, the state capital Saarbrücken and the state were among the largest supporters.