Grimme Award for Alain Gsponer’s film “Das wahre Leben”
25.03.2009
“Das wahre Leben” by Swiss director Alain Gsponer (production: C-Films, Zurich, BurkertBareiss Development, TV60 Film, GFP Medienfonds, ARD, SWR, BR, SF) was honoured with the esteemed Adolf Grimme Award for “Screenplay” (Matthias Pacht And Alexander Buresch) and “Direction” in the “Fiction” category. The two leading actresses in the film – Katja Riemann and Hannah Herzsprung – also won awards. A total of five productions were awarded an Adolf Grimme Award in the “Fiction” category. The public award ceremony will be held at a Gala in Marl on April 3, 2009.
The Adolf Grimme Award will be presented for the 45th time to films for television which “are commendable and exemplary for programming”. The awards are regarded as the German “Oscars for Television”. As announced on March 25, 2009, a total of twelve Adolf Grimme Awards will be presented in the competition categories of “Fiction”, “Information & Culture” and “Entertainment”. Sixty-five productions had been nominated.
The film “Das wahre Leben” (German Audio Description Prize 2008, the German Film Reviews Prize 2007) portrays the disruption of the middle-class family idyll of suburban life. The jury of the Adolf Grimme Award 2009 commended this “tragicomedy with impeccable staging, outstanding acting and written in a biting, sarcastic tone”. The Swiss film director Alain Gsponer, who lives in Berlin, is currently working on the film adaptation of Martin Suter’s “Lila, Lila”.
Before beginning his studies at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in 1997, Gsponer had completed the basic course in Audio-Visual Design at the Schule für Gestaltung in Bern, was a co-manager of an art-house cinema and was employed as a radio journalist. In 2002 he concluded his studies with the award-winning film “Kiki & Tiger”. His film “Rose” (2005) was honoured with the Eastman Award at the Hof International Film Festival, won the German Television Award in 2007 and was nominated for the Adolf Grimme Award in 2008. In 2009 Gsponer won the Adolf Grimme Award for “Das wahre Leben”.
The two Swiss documentary films “Das kurze Leben des José Antonio Gutierrez” by Heidi Specogna and “War Photographer” by Christian Frei were also honoured with Adolf Grimme Awards in 2008 and 2003.
Zurich, March 25, 2009
The film “Das wahre Leben” (German Audio Description Prize 2008, the German Film Reviews Prize 2007) portrays the disruption of the middle-class family idyll of suburban life. The jury of the Adolf Grimme Award 2009 commended this “tragicomedy with impeccable staging, outstanding acting and written in a biting, sarcastic tone”. The Swiss film director Alain Gsponer, who lives in Berlin, is currently working on the film adaptation of Martin Suter’s “Lila, Lila”.
Before beginning his studies at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in 1997, Gsponer had completed the basic course in Audio-Visual Design at the Schule für Gestaltung in Bern, was a co-manager of an art-house cinema and was employed as a radio journalist. In 2002 he concluded his studies with the award-winning film “Kiki & Tiger”. His film “Rose” (2005) was honoured with the Eastman Award at the Hof International Film Festival, won the German Television Award in 2007 and was nominated for the Adolf Grimme Award in 2008. In 2009 Gsponer won the Adolf Grimme Award for “Das wahre Leben”.
The two Swiss documentary films “Das kurze Leben des José Antonio Gutierrez” by Heidi Specogna and “War Photographer” by Christian Frei were also honoured with Adolf Grimme Awards in 2008 and 2003.
Zurich, March 25, 2009