30.07.10

DEFA Promotion Prize Awarded in Munich

On Thursday evening, 29 July, the DEFA-Stiftung foundation in Munich awarded its Promotion Prize to participants in Filmfest Dresden's Perspectives for Animated Film Exchange Forum. The prize money amounting to €4,000 was given to the project Watching the Ball which, under the direction of Martin Kleinmichel (Berlin) and produced by Michael Schwertel (Cologne), brings together eleven artists from six different countries (including Great Britain, Serbia, Russia and Estonia). The artists' intention with the film is to show the final of the 2010 World Cup from different perspectives and resolve the mass phenomenon within a puzzle comprised of individual stories.

This is already the seventh time that the DEFA-Stiftung foundation has, within the context of the exchange forum initiated by Filmfest Dresden, awarded a working stipend to realise a shared film project. The aim of the support is to motivate the participants to join in international cooperative projects. Like last year, the prize was awarded during Filmfest Dresden's summer tour in the Pasinger Fabrik venue in Munich. Helmut Morsbach, Chairman of the DEFA-Stiftung, personally handed over the prize to Martin Kleinmichel and Michael Schwertel. May we congratulate the winners on their success.