Editor

For the second time this year’s European Film Awards will include the presentation of the Prix Eurimages, an award acknowledging the decisive position which co-production occupies within the European film industry.
This reward for European co-producers is presented by Eurimages, the support fund of the Council of Europe for co-production, distribution, exhibition and digitisation of European cinematographic works, and once again patron of the European Film Academy.

This year’s honour will go to two important producers who have combined efforts in order to develop and promote European cinema: Vibeke Windeløv, one of the most renowned and successful independent film producers in Scandinavia, and Bettina Brokemper, a young German producer with wide international experience. Together they have co-produced Lars von Trier’s DOGVILLE (European Director 2003) and MANDERLAY, both of which have been supported by Eurimages.

Vibeke Windeløv was at the start of the new wave of Danish cinema and at the birth of the Dogma movement. She produced all of Lars von Trier’s films from 1994 to 2006 including BREAKING THE WAVES (Cannes Grand Jury Prize, European Film of the Year 1996), DANCER IN THE DARK (Cannes Palme d’Or, European Film of the Year 2000) and the television series THE KINGDOM. She also has produced a variety of short films and documentaries by and about artists, such as Per Kirkeby, Karin Westerlund and, Asger Jorn. Vibeke Windeløv served on the board of the European Film Academy from 1998 to 2004, and was a member of the jury of the Venice Film Festival 2001 and of the Montreal Film Festival 2006.

Having worked as 1st AD at JE Entertainment (now: Endemol) in 1992, Bettina Brokemper studied production and media economics at the Munich University of Television and Film. After graduation she was granted the GWFF Award for young producers, a scholarship to work and study in Los Angeles in the development department of Luc Besson’s Seaside Production. Since 2001 Bettina Brokemper has been working as a producer for Pain Unlimited and Neue Impuls Film, where she co-produced THE SYRIAN BRIDE by Eran Riklis (2004). In May 2003 she joined forces with Helmut Hartl and Stefan Telegty to form her own company, Heimatfilm, where she co-produced DEAR WENDY by Thomas Vinterberg (2005) and collaborated again with Eran Riklis on LEMON TREE (2008). She is currently working on Lars von Trier’s latest film ANTICHRIST.

The Prix Eurimages will be presented by the Vice-Presidents of Eurimages’ Board of Management after the European Film Academy’s General Assembly at the National Film School of Denmark on Friday, 5 December 2008.