Exground filmfest 24 celebrates successful festival closing with Awards

On Sunday, November 20, exground filmfest 24 celebrated its festive festival closing in the Caligari FilmBühne. Over ten days the festival had presented highlights from the international independent film scene in Wiesbaden. Numerous international guests had travelled to the state capital of Hessen to present their films in person to the audiences who turned up in huge numbers. exground filmfest is happy to announce another record number of visitors: More than 14 000 participated in this year's festival events.

German Short Film contest in sold out Caligari FilmBühne

The German Short Film contest is exground filmfest‘s most established contest. In two screenings the audience decided on this year's winner films and chose INTERVIEW by Sebastian Mark aas the winner film on Sunday, November 20, in the sold out Caligari FilmBühne. The first prize of the German Short Film Contest is endowed with 3000 Euros and sponsored by the Cultural Offices of the state capital Wiesbaden. THE CENTRIFUGE BRAIN PROJECT by Till Nowak came in second, endowed with 2000 Euros sponsored by the Wiesbaden Kinofestival e.V. this year. VIKI FICKI by Natalie Spinell landed on place three, endowed with 1000 Euros and also presented by head of Cultural department of the state capital Wiesbaden, Rose-Lore Scholz. For the first time, the Pille Filmgeräteverleih GmbH sponsored an additional non-cash prize worth 2000 Euros, for video and film technology. A jury of five representatives from the company decorated THE CENTRIFUGE BRAIN PROJECT by Till Nowak.

In the course of the festive award ceremony - following the 2nd screening of the German Short Film contest on Sunday, November 20, - the winners of exground filmfest 24's other contests were decorated as well in the Caligari FilmBühne.

 exground youth days - 8th international youth film contest

The youth jury of the 8th international youth film contest within the exground youth days gave the award for best feature film to the Icelandic entry JITTERS by Baldvin Zophoníasson. The jurors explained their decision as follows: „A 16 year old boy is confronted with his homosexuality and needs to learn to be himself in a world full of obstacles. Impressive images do not only transport his fate but his friend's and parents' as well. The story is never exaggerated which lends a true credibility to the film". The prize money for the winner film is 2500 Euros, sponsored by the state capital Wiesbaden.

An honorary mention went to the US contest entry JESS + MOSS by Clay Jeter. The youth jury's explanatory statement: „We especially liked the camera work, the images of the Confederate States and the realization of the director's ideas. The director himself says: The film breathes. We say: It is breathtaking."

The youth jury also decorated the best supporting film of the youth days: I AM A GIRL! by director Susan Koenen, who addresses the rarely discussed subject of transsexuality with the example of her 13 year old protagonist Joppe. This award is undoped.

Already on Saturday, November 12, the audience had decided on the winner of the Wiesbaden Youth Film contest. The short feature film COUNTDOWN by Leon Kaczmarczyk won the vote and the director received the prize money of 450 Euros, sponsored by the Hessian State Office for

Political Education.

International ON-VIDEO contest

The international ON-VIDEO contest celebrated its 10th anniversary. This year, 20 films from 16 countries competed for the jury award, endowed with 1500 Euros. The first prize in the 10th international ON-VIDEO contest went to the French short feature film THE STRANGE ONES by Lauren Wolkstein and Christopher Radcliff. The exground circle of friends, established in 2009, handed over the prize money of 1500 Euros. A jury of three decided on the winner: Rita Thies, former head of the Cultural Department of the state capital Wiesbaden, Csaba Letay, member of the group Polynoid, who won this contest in 2010 with their animation film LOOM, and Martin Scheuring, short film representative of German Films. From the jury statement: „The jury decorates a film that builds an arc of suspense with a clear visual language and minimal means manages to cram great story-telling cinema into fifteen minutes.

Wiesbaden-Special - Short Film contest

Last Sunday, the audience decided on the prize winner of the WIESBADEN-SPECIAL - SHORT FILM CONTEST, in which up-and-coming talents from the Hessian state capital compete for the director's award endowed with 500 Euros, sponsored by the Wiesbadener Kurier newspaper, exground filmfest's local media partner.The audience chose HERZDAMEN by Alexandra Fox, Claudia Münch, and Stefanie Jaehde. In addition, the winner gets the opportunity to use the technology and knowledge of the Wiesbaden sound studio klangBezirk for two days during his next film project's final sound mix. The „Film sound Special" award is worth 2000 Euros,

exground-Gong-Show

GIVE US YOUR TRASH! has been this year's traditional motto of the exground-Gong-Show again, which took place last Monday, November 14, at the Kulturpalast. Short films of up to 10 minutes length could be submitted by everyone directly on location. All productions that weren't gonged out by the jury were rated on a ten-point scale. This year‘s „Golden exground Cucumber" and the prize money of 50 Euros went to DER INTERRATIONALE FRÜHSCHOPPEN by Linus Secker.

Closing Party

Following the award ceremony, the festival audience and international guests celebrated the successful festival in the foyer of the Caligari FilmBühne. DJ Monaco supplied a fitting frame for the celebration.

exground filmfest 25

Next year, exground filmfest celebrates its 25th anniversary - the date is already fixed: From November 16 until November 25, 2012, numerous international filmmakers will introduce their independent films in Wiesbaden again. Until then, the filmfest presents its monthly „exground film of the month" in the Caligari FilmBühne. On December 14 at 8pm this is NOISE AND RESISTANCE by Francesca Araiza Andrade and Julia Ostertag.