Success for Swiss short films in Germany
13.10.2009
Michael Koch’s 29-minute short fiction film “Polar” is one of the ten works nominated for the German Short Film Award 2009. The award will be presented in Ludwigsburg on October 29, 2009; the nomination is endowed with 15,000 euros. And last weekend Thaïs Odermatt was awarded 18,000 euros in Potsdam for her documentary short film “Nid hei cho”. The jury awarded the film a Babelsberg Media Award for Best Graduate Film in Documentary Film. This year’s Babelsberg Media Awards were under the auspices of Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick.
“Polar” is Swiss director Michael Koch’s graduation film from the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. The film has been honoured with awards in Dresden, Cologne, Winterthur and Berlin, among others. It was shot in Glarus and depicts the conflict-laden encounter between 18-year-old Luis and his father in a remote region in the mountains. The film has been nominated in the category of “Fiction Films between 7 and 30 minutes”. For the jury it is “… a film with a thoroughly condensed atmosphere, deeply moving, without being sentimental in the least.” The jury nominated 10 films for the award from the 253 films that had been submitted.
The 17-minute short film “Nid hei cho” is Thaïs Odermatt’s graduation film from Lucerne School of Art and Design. The film, which celebrated its world premiere at the San Sebastian International Film Festival in September, provides insight into the lives of poachers in the Alps. The jury of the Babelsberg Media Awards emphasised that it was “shaken by the film’s poetic message. A short film that taps its full potential and convinces in terms of format and narrative substance.” In Switzerland “Nid hei cho” will be screened at the International Short Film Festival Winterthur in November.
Geneva/Zurich, October 13, 2009
The 17-minute short film “Nid hei cho” is Thaïs Odermatt’s graduation film from Lucerne School of Art and Design. The film, which celebrated its world premiere at the San Sebastian International Film Festival in September, provides insight into the lives of poachers in the Alps. The jury of the Babelsberg Media Awards emphasised that it was “shaken by the film’s poetic message. A short film that taps its full potential and convinces in terms of format and narrative substance.” In Switzerland “Nid hei cho” will be screened at the International Short Film Festival Winterthur in November.
Geneva/Zurich, October 13, 2009