‘I’m Your Man’ Tops German Film Awards
Maria Schrader’s I’m Your Man won four awards at the Lolas, Germany’s national film awards, on Saturday evening. The film won best film plus prizes for screenwriting, directing and for lead actress Maren Eggert. The awards were held physically this year with more than 1,000 attendees in Berlin, though Schrader is currently in New York so attended remotely. Also winning on the night were Oliver Masucci as best actor for his performance in Enfant Terrible, and Mr. Bachmann and His Class, which won best documentary. Senta Berger received the lifetime achievement award. I’m Your Man is Germany’s entry to the Oscars this year. Director Schrader recently won an Emmy for her work on Unorthodox.
Zurich Fest Winners
This year’s Zurich Film Festival has crowned its award winners. A Golden Eye apiece went to the films La Mif by Fred Baillif (Focus Competition), A Chiara by Jonas Carpignano (Feature Film Competition) and Life Of Ivanna by Renato Borrayo Serrano (Documentary Film Competition). The ZFF Children’s Jury further presented the Little Golden Eye to Le Loup Et Le Lion. As previously announced, honorary prizes were given this year to Sharon Stone, Pamela Abdy, Paolo Sorrentino, Mychael Danna, and Paul Schrader. The fest also confirmed today it had welcomed 102,000 visitors this year (all in person), a 50% increase on last year. Highlights included one of the first screenings of new Bond pic No Time To Die. “A lot more people attended the Zurich Film Festival than we could have hoped, which shows that cinema is back. Many filmmakers were able to present their films to a real audience in a movie theatre for the first time and were touched by their encounters with the viewers,” said Christian Jungen, Artistic Director of the ZFF.
Aardman Seals ‘Interstellar Ella’ Deals
Animation outfit Aardman and co-producers Fabrique Fantastique (Belgium) and Apartment 11 (Canada) have announced deals with a number of international broadcasters to acquire the first season of Interstellar Ella – a 52 x 11 minute CGI animated series which is aimed at four-to-seven-year-olds. The series is commissioned by VRT Ketnet TV (Belgium), Knowledge Kids, Société Radio-Canada, TFO, TVOkids (Canada) with deals being secured with SVT Sweden, NRK Norway and YLE Finland. The show follows eight-year-old Ella Ryder and her friends’ adventures in space, where they discover as much about themselves as they do about planets and astronomy.