The Compass-Perspektive-Award for the Best Film in the Programme goes to Maryam Zaree for Her Film Born in Evin. Congratulations!

On the final evening of Perspektive Deutsches Kino, jury members Trini Götze, Jerry Hoffmann and Andrea Hohnen presented the Compass-Perspektive-Award 2019 for the best film. The distinction goes to the film Born in Evin by Maryam Zaree. The award is endowed with prize money in the amount of 5,000 euros and was presented this year for the third time. As a trophy, the director received a real compass, which is intended to serve as symbolic orientation and show her the direction to take going into the future.

The jury members viewed all twelve entries to the competition of the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section over the course of the festival days and decided upon their favourites following intensive discussion.

“We are very excited to be able to honour a film that moved and impressed all of the members of the jury with equal intensity. It is an important film, as personal as it is political, and we hope very dearly that this combative filmmaker will take us along on many a new journey in the future!” as the jury members shared after reaching their decision.

The jury statement for Born in Evin:

“In Born in Evin, Maryam Zaree takes us along on a search for her own past, in a gruesome chapter of Iranian history. Resolute and sincere, brave and moving, the filmmaker relentlessly hunts for answers to unasked questions, in the process drawing us ever-deeper into her story and to a collective blind spot. She takes a stand, undaunted, and assumes responsibility for breaking the silence for an entire generation.”