GOODBYE BERLIN Wins EFA Young Audience Award

Young Juries in 31 European Countries Elect German film by Fatih Akin 

In a truly European vote, 12-14-year-olds in

have elected GOODBYE BERLIN as the winner of the European Film Academy Young Audience Award 2017.

As a response to the current situation in Europe and a contribution to integration, this year’s sixth edition of the EFA Young Audience Award again specifically included refugee kids. It was the second time that Berlin participated in the initiative and it was here that the European Film Academy brought together Berlin pupils and “welcome classes” for refugee children. Together they watched the nominated films, discussed them with each other, and, as members of the pan-European jury, voted for the winner. This special event was organised in co-operation with Yorck Kinogruppe and supported by the Federal Agency for Civic Education.

Having watched the three nominated films on today’s Young Audience Film Day, almost 2,000 young cinema-lovers across Europe had the opportunity to discuss the films before electing their favourite. The results were then reported live via video conference to Erfurt (Germany) where German actress and comedian Gesa Dreckmann moderated the awards ceremony. The ceremony was transmitted online as a live stream and will remain available as VOD. EFA Director Marion Döring presented the award to the films screenwriter Lars Hubrich, producer Marco Mehlitz, and the two main actors Tristan Göbel and Anand Batbileg. 

This year’s sixth edition of the EFA Young Audience Award with a record 37 participating cities was realised with the following partners: 

AUSTRIA – St. Pölten & Vienna: Austrian Film Academy, BELGIUM - Brussels: Filem’On & Bozar, BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA – Sarajevo: Sarajevo Film Festival & Meeting Point cinema, BULGARIA – Sofia: Art Fest, CROATIA – Zagreb: Zagreb Film Festival, CZECH REPUBLIC – Prague: Krutón, DENMARK  - Aalborg:  UCN, Centre for Educational Resources, ESTONIA – Tallinn: NGO Kinobuss, FINLAND – Helsinki: Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy, GERMANY – Berlin: Yorck Kinogruppe & Erfurt: German Children’s Media Foundation Golden Sparrow, GREECE – Athens: Hellenic Film Academy, HUNGARY – Budapest: Hungarian National Film Fund, ISRAEL - Tel Aviv:  Tel Aviv Cinematheque,  ITALY – Florence: Niels Stensen Cultural Foundation, Rome: Alice nella città in agreement with Fondazione Cinema per Roma & Turin: National Cinema Museum, KOSOVO – Prizren:  DokuFest, LATVIA – Riga: National Film Centre of Latvia, Lithuania – Vilnius: Lithuanian Film Center, LUXEMBOURG: Luxembourg City Film Festival, FYR MACEDONIA – Skopje: Macedonian Film Agency, MALTA – Valletta: Creative Europe Desk Malta, MONTENEGRO – Podgorica: NGO Avvantura Montenegro & Podgorica Film Festival, NETHERLANDS – Amsterdam: EYE Film Museum, POLAND – Lodz, Warsaw & Wrocław: New Horizons Association, PORTUGAL – Lisbon: Portuguese Academy of Film & ICA, ROMANIA - Cluj-Napoca: EducaTIFF, SERBIA – Belgrade: Free Zone Festival, SLOVAKIA – Bratislava: Boiler NGO, SLOVENIA – Izola: Otok, SPAIN –Barcelona: Filmoteca de Catalunya, TURKEY, Istanbul: Yapimlab, UK – London: BFI.

The European Film Academy Young Audience Award is organised and presented by the European Film Academy and EFA Productions with the support of the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (MDM). Media partner was FRED FM Film Radio.