Filmfest Hamburg came to an end today with a festive award-giving ceremony.

The following awards were presented within the framework of a lunchtime reception given by the Senate at Literaturhaus Hamburg:

Prof. Dr. Karin von Welck, Senator for Culture, Sports and the Media, presented the TV Producers’ Prize, endowed with 30,000 euros, to Bavaria Fernsehproduktion (producer: Astrid Kahmke) for the ProSieben comedy ‘Machen wir’s auf Finnisch’ (director: Marco Petry). The prize-money is available exclusively for contracts with postproduction companies in Hamburg. The jury was made up of the producer and scriptwriter Nina Bohlmann, the actor Burghart Klaußner and the scriptwriter Ruth Thoma.

This year saw the Art Cinema Award Confédération Internationale des Cinémas d'Art et d'Essai (C.I.C.A.E.) being presented for the first time in Hamburg. The award was presented to the German-French-Belgian co-production ’35 rhums’ (director: Claire Denis), which was shot last autumn in Paris and Lübeck. Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein augments the prize with a sum of 5,000 euros for the funding of PR measures by the German distributor Real Fiction. ‘Adoration’ (director: Atom Egoyan, German distributor: X Verleih) received a commendation. The international jury was made up the cinema owners Daniel Lavaud (France), Dietmar Zingl (Austria) and Erdmann Lange (Germany).

Tonight’s festive closing event of Filmfest Hamburg at CinemaxX Dammtor featured the presentation of five further awards:

The Hamburg Film Critic Award, awarded for the fifth time by ‘Der Spiegel’, ‘Stern’, ‘Hamburger Abendblatt’ and ‘NDR 90.3’, went to the American film ‘Frozen River’ (director: Courtney Hunt).

This year saw the second presentation of the Montblanc Script Award, endowed with 10,000 euros, which went to Srdjan Vuleti for his screenplay to ‘It’s Hard to Be Nice’, which he also directed. The Montblanc Script Award is presented in the section “Nordlichter”. The jury was made up literary manager Annette Pauw, dem the writer Dirk C. Fleck and, Günter Berg, Executive Director of Hoffmann & Campe publishing house.

New this year is the young talents award Die Elfe, endowed with 5,000 euros and sponsored by Neue Sentimental Film Hamburg (NSF). It went to ‘Johnny Mad Dog’ (director: Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, German distributor: Koch Media GmbH). The award was presented by a jury of three, consisting of agency owner Vicki Hinrichs-Rickmers, German actress Nina Hoger and the Executive Director of NSF Hamburg, Sabine Lippert.

Seven films from the “eurovisuell” section competed for the Audience Award, endowed with 5,000 euros. The winner was the French film ‘Welcome to the Shtis’ by director Dany Boon. This year the prize was donated by Hamburger Kulturgesellschaft Harmonie von 1789. The film is released on 30th October 2008 in the distribution of PROKINO.

For the third time, the free TV channel DAS VIERTE presented the micromovie-Award at Filmfest Hamburg. The ten best out of a number of submitted film ideas were made into a film. The TV and Filmfest Hamburg audiences chose the film ‘Gewonnen!’. Jan Schwarze, author of the idea, receives 4,444 euros and takes part in an exclusive scriptwriting workshop.

The Michel Children’s and Youth Film Festival also came to an end today with a festive closing ceremony.

In the presence of patron Jürgen Vogel, the children’s and youth jury of seven announced their decision: the Australian film ‘Hey Hey, It’s Esther Blueburger’ (director: Cathy Randall) receives the sought-after directing prize Michel, sponsored by the DVD supplier Universal Pictures Germany, who doubled this year’s prize money to 5,000 euros. Commendations went out to ‘Home Run’ (director: Francis Leclerc) and ‘Butterflies’ (Regie: Kjell-Åke Andersson).

The Jetix-Movie-Award, the audience prize in the children’s and youth film section, presented by the children’s channel Jetix, went to the Swedish children’s film ‘Butterflies’ (director: Kjell-Åke Andersson).

On the occasion of the German premiere of his film ‘Adoration’, Atom Egoyan was awarded the Douglas-Sirk-Award on 27th September. Every year, Filmfest Hamburg honours an individual personality for their outstanding contributions to film culture. The laudatory speech was held by Wim Wenders.