Chrieg wins the Max Ophüls Prize

by Bénédicte Prot

26/01/2015 - The Swiss film has emerged victorious from the 36th edition of the festival that aims to scout out fresh German-speaking talent

Chrieg by Simon Jaquemet

The 36th Max Ophüls Festival (19-25 January) has just drawn to a close, bringing victory for a Swiss film. Indeed, the gathering in Saarbrücken, which is a major event intended to discover tomorrow’s freshest talents from within the world of German-language cinema, crowned Chrieg [+see also:
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interview: Simon Jaquemet
film profile] by Simon Jaquemet. The jury, which comprised such figures as German actor Devid Striesow and director Jakob Lass (winner of the Max Ophüls Prize last year for the highly original Love Steaks [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), admired this feature debut depicting an angry young man and his powerless parents for “its power, clarity and authenticity”, and for the way the hero “discovers his identity and his confidence where the viewer least expects it”. The movie’s young lead actor, Benjamin Lutzke, received the Best Actor Award.

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The Saarland Minister-President’s Award went to another Swiss person: Karim Patwa for Driften, starring Sabine Timoteo and Max Hubacher as young, hot-headed characters riddled with inner conflicts. The jury enjoyed the “psychological drama modelled on US independent cinema”. The film also won the Fritz-Raff Award for Best Screenplay and the Ecumenical Jury Prize.

The Prize for Best Social Interest Film went to the Swiss-Croatian-Bosnian co-production Cure [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Andrea Staka
film profile] by Andrea Staka, in which a Croatian teenager coming back to Dubrovnik after the 1991-1992 siege finds herself haunted by her friend’s death.

The audience and the young jury both chose to award their prizes to Freistatt [+see also:
trailer
interview: Louis Hofmann
film profile] by Germany’s Marc Brummund. The Best Actress Award was bestowed upon his young fellow countrywoman Lore Richter for her performance in In uns das Universum by Lisa Krane. Lastly, the Best Documentary Award was handed to another German: Hubertus Siegert for Beyond Punishment.