After walking away with Best Actress award for her role in The Piano Teacher at the illustrious Cannes glamour fest, Isabelle Huppert, the shining star of French cinema, was honored at a special gala this past week with Best European Actress at the Film Festival Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg 2001. The event, which not only fascinated all of Stuttgart, also attracted an enthusiastic public who filled the Reithalle including the French Ambassador Claude Martin, the French Consul General in Stuttgart, and numerous other dignitaries, all present to pay homage to the great French actress. The prize was awarded by the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg. Along with her trophy, Huppert took home a check for 25,000 Deutsche marks (equivalent to around FF 84,000). In tribute to Huppert's extraordinary career, the festival screened four of the actress' favorite Huppert-starring flics including: The Comedy of Innocence by Raoul Ruiz, Modern Life by Laurence Ferreira Barbosa, Loulou by Maurice Pialat and A Judgment in Stone by Claude Chabrol.

In both sections of the Festival, the Cinema Europa (Feature films) and the European Short Film competition sponsored by the Wüstenrot Foundation, awards were presented totalling DM 285,000. Among these were the prize given by the state of Baden-Württemberg (DM 100,000) and the award of the Media-and Film Society Baden-Württemberg (DM 50,000).

Alongside the Features Competition itself, there were two other aspects of the programme that became a magnet of interest for the audience: Literature & Film and the "Tage des Filmgesprächs" (Days of Film Talk): an overly full marquee and a focused argumentative public debating the subject of the new production structures of SWR; a full house for the discussion on the situation and training of film actors with, among others, the actress Anna Thalbach, Nicolette Krebitz and the director Roland Suso Richter. The auditoriums were full to capacity even for the films that did not take part in the competition, such as, the world premier of Klaus Gietinger's Heinrich der Säger, or Stefan Jäger's Birthday.

The public unanimously chose to ignore the bad weather, and despite rain and cool temperatures, the short film-section attracted a good number of visitors. Not only were the numerous visitors to the festival impressed by the extremely high level of artistic achievement: 71 from a total of 74 filmmakers journeyed to Ludwigsburg and participated in intensive film discussions and celebrations which are often paid a mere lip service.

The Prizes
A total of three juries awarded prizes from 14 feature films and 74 short film-productions:
Feature Film-competition Cinema Europa
Klaus Eder (chairman), Annet Malherbe, Renzo Rossellini, Jan Schütte, Martin Wiebel

Prize awarded by the state of Baden-Württemberg for best film (director & production) - DM 100,000
The Town is Quiet, France 2000
Director: Robert Guédiguian
Script: Jean-Louis Milési, Robert Guédiguian
Producer: Gilles Sandoz, Michel Saint-Jean, Robert Guédiguian
The Festival was pleased to be able to hand the prize to the French actor Gérad Meylan who came in place of the director, Robert Guédiguian, who is in production with a new film.

Special Jury Prize
Il partigiano Johnny, Italy 2000
Director: Guido Chiesa
Script: Guido Chiesa, Antonio Leotti
The Italian actor Fabrizio Gifuni came in place of the director Guido Chiesa.

Prize for a talented young actor awarded by the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg with the sum of DM 5,000 goes in equal parts to:

Silvia de Santis for her role in
Una lunga lunga lunga notte d'amore, Italy 2000
Director: Luciano Emmer

Sami Bouajila for his role in
La Faute à Voltaire, France 2000
Director: Abdel Kechiche
Sami Bouajila, well known to the French public as a very talented young actor, came to Stuttgart on the occasion of the award ceremony.

Gabriel Axel (chairman), Sabine Brodersen, Renate Roginas, Paul Thiltges
Award (promotional prize for German distribution) of the Medien - und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg (MFG) - DM 50,000
La Faute à Voltaire, France 2000
Director & script: Abdel Kechiche

European Short Film - Competition Section of the Wüstenrot Foundation
Barbara Albert, Caterina d'Amico, Sophie Maintigneux, l Anke Lindenkamp, Peter Rommel

European Short Film - Promotional Prize of the Wüstenrot Foundation- DM 30,000
Meska sprawa (Eine Männersache), Poland 2001
Director & script: Slawomir Fabicki

European Short film - Promotional Prize of the Wüstenrot Foundation - DM 15,000
Afta (Tag für Tag), Hungary 2001
Director: Kornél Mundruczó
Script: Kornél Mundruczó, Balász Révész
Field (Das Feld), Great Britain 2000
Director & script: Duane Hopkins

German Short film - Promotional Prize of the Wüstenrot Foundation - DM 15,000
Oberstube, Germany 2000
Director & script: Sebastian Winkels

Promotional Prize for Special Achievement in Script Writing - DM 5,000
Peter Asmussen and Pernille Fischer Christensen for India, Denmark 1999
Director: Pernille Fischer Christensen

Promotional prize for Special Achievement in Film Music - DM 5,000
Sergej Kurjokhin for
Námornicky Valcik (Seemannswalzer), Czech Republic 2000
Director & script: Ramunas Greicius
Script: Ramunas Greicius

Promotional prize for special Achievement in Camera Work - DM 5,000
Donat van Belinghen for Un veau pleurait, la nuit (At Night Cries a Calf), Belgium 2000
Director & script: John Shank