Sounds of Sand clear winner at Film Festival Emden Awards

The surprise of the evening was provided by the double award winner “Sounds of Sand” by Marion Hänsel. The film convinced audiences completely and was honoured with both the Bernhard Wicki Award and the DGB Film Award. The Awards Ceremony formed the high point of Emden’s 18th International Film Festival. Four film awards with prize money totalling € 29,000, together with the Festival’s Honorary Award sponsored by the Emden Harbour Industry and “A writer’s workplace by the sea” were all presented in a gala atmosphere in front of a packed house. Lutz Stratmann, Lower Saxony’s Minister for Science and Culture, and Emden’s Mayor Alwin Brinkmann opened the ceremony in the Neues Theater and emphasized the importance of the Festival for the region and the world of film. Sold-out cinemas and very popular cultural events speak for themselves: audiences look for and appreciate the quality and the diversity of the popular and internationally recognised film festival.
Bernhard Wicki Award
Seventeen films from Great Britain, Germany, Iceland, Belgium, France, Croatia, the Netherlands and Ireland were nominated for this audience award, with a purse totalling € 15,000.
Presented by:
Thomas Ehrlich, Score Tankstellen- und Mineralöl-Handelsgesellschaft
Remmer Edzards, Stadtwerke Emden
Herbert Visser, Norderney
Award mentor: Elisabeth Wicki-Endriss
1st prize (€ 10,000 + Film Wave statuette – silver on sandstone)
Sounds of Sand, directed by Marion Hänsel
2nd prize (€ 3,000)
The Front Line, directed by David Gleeson
3rd prize (€ 2,000)
Driving Lessons, directed by Jeremy Brock
DGB Film Award
This year marked the tenth anniversary of the foundation of the DGB Film Award for films displaying particular social commitment. Four films were in competition for the Award, with its purse of € 5,000. The directors dealt intelligently and imaginatively with topics of contemporary interest such as unemployment, civil war and climate change. The DGB Film Award is presented along with the statuette “The Senses”, designed and crafted by Joern Schlund, Münster.
Presented by:
Hartmut Tölle, DGB Niedersachsen-Bremen-Sachsen-Anhalt
Wilfried Alberts, IG Metall Emden
The Award was won by:
Sounds of Sand, directed by Marion Hänsel
NDR Young Directors Film Award
The NDR Young Directors Film Award was presented in 2007 for the first time. The promotion award, with a purse of € 5,000, is awarded for a director’s first or second full-length German-language feature film. Six films were in competition for the highest score given by the audience.
Presented by:
Martin Reckweg, Studio Director NDR Oldenburg
The Award was won by:
Reine Geschmacksache, (Just a matter of taste) directed by Ingo Rasper
East Friesian Short Film Award
Nine films took part in the popular competition for the East Friesian Short Film Award. The winner receives the “Ottifant Camera” statuette based on a design by comedian Otto Waalkes, as well as prize money of € 2,500. The second and third places receive € 1000 and € 500 respectively.
Presented by:
Signe Foetzki, Ostfriesische Landschaftliche Brandkasse
Award mentor: Thomas Heinze
1st prize (€ 2,500 + Ottifant Camera)
Drei Reisende (Three Travellers), directed by Jan Thüring
2nd prize (€1,000)
Mickey & Maria, directed by Steffen Reuter
3rd prize (€ 500)
Good Kill, directed by Uwe Greine
The winner Jan Thüring was competing for the third time in the competition and had already won first prize in the year 2000.
Special Award: A writer’s workplace by the sea
This award, probably the most unusual to be presented by a German film festival, consists of a two-week “short grant” for project development in the loft apartment of a small, exclusive and very comfortable hotel – the “Hotel Seesteg” – located directly on Nordeney beach.
Presented by: Jens Brune, Hotel Seesteg, Norderney
The Award was won by:
Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, main actors in the film “Once”.
Honorary Award of the Emden Harbour Industry
Sönke Wortmann was honoured today as one of the most successful directors in Germany with the Festival’s Honorary Award, sponsored by the Emden Harbour Industry. This year was the second time that the Award has been made, and it was presented by Lower Saxony’s Minister for Science and Culture, Lutz Stratmann.
Volkswagen Screenplay Award
Ninety-nine authors and 82 screenplays competed for the renowned Volkswagen Screenplay Award. The presentation of this year’s Award took place on Friday, 15th June 2007.
1st prize (€ 10,000)
“Up! Up! To the sky” by Hardi Sturm, Berlin
2nd prize (€ 1,000)
“Ich bin nicht aus Stein” (I am not made of stone) by Daphne Großmann, Berlin
3rd prize (€ 1000)
“Das letzte Goldhamstergeheimnis” (The last golden hamster secret) by Ulrike Maria Hund, Bonn