Oct 01, 2012: Emily Atef to be Jury President of “FGYO-Award Dialogue en perspective” / Looking for a Young Jury!

The French-German Youth Office (FGYO), official partner of the Berlinale, is calling for applications for the “FGYO-Award Dialogue en perspective” jury in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section.

Starting now, young film lovers can apply to become jury members for the independent Berlinale award “FGYO-Award Dialogue en perspective”. The prize is donated and endowed with 5,000.00 € by the FGYO, and will be awarded at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival (February 7 – 17, 2013) to a film in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section.

Three German and three French cineastes as well as a jury member from a third country, aged between 18 and 29, will be selected. French-Iranian director Emily Atef, who was born in Berlin, will be the jury president for the 10th anniversary of the award. All those who have a passion for discussing films, and who are able to express themselves in both German and French, can apply. The FGYO offers young people who enjoy lively debates with other film lovers the unique chance to experience and actively participate in the Berlinale 2013.

The deadline for applications is Monday, November 26, 2012 (at midnight).

The seven jury members will be invited to Berlin for the entire festival. The jury will attend all screenings of the Perspektive Deutsches Kino during the Berlinale, and afterwards present the award to the director of the winning film.

For the French-German Youth Office, the aim of the “FGYO-Award Dialogue en perspective” is to promote an intercultural dialogue between young German and French audiences, and inspire interest for German film. The prize will be awarded to a film that appeals equally to critical young people of different cultural backgrounds. In 2012, the film This ain’t California by Marten Persiel won the award.

For the terms and conditions for participation, go to: www.berlinale.de and www.dialogue-en-perspective.org.

Emily Atef: Jury President of the “FGYO-Award Dialogue en perspective”

Emily Atef was born in Berlin in 1971. She is the daughter of French-Iranian parents and moved with them to Los Angeles when she was seven. When she was 13, they moved to France, where she graduated from lycée. Next she decided to go to London and attend film school. By the time she was 28 and began studying film directing at the DFFB, the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin, she had had so much experience in different cultures that it proved highly advantageous for realizing her cinematic visions. Following a number of short films made at the Academy and a role in Angela Schanelec’s film Marseille (2004), Atef made her first fictional feature, Molly’s Way (2006). For it, she and her co-author, Esther Bernstorff, won a Young German Cinema Award for Best Screenplay at the Filmfest München. Her second feature, Das Fremde in mir (The Stranger in Me), about a mother who falls into a deep depression after the birth of her child, premiered in the “Semaine de la Critique” section at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008. True to the motto “never change a winning team”, Emily Atef again wrote the screenplay of her third feature, Töte mich (Kill me / 2011) with Esther Bernstorff. She received a grant for it from the Cinéfondation for Cannes’ Résidence du festival. Töte mich premiered last year at the Hofer Filmtage.

“I’m looking forward to watching the movies of new talented filmmakers with young cineastes who are not experts”, commented Emily Atef on the task facing her as president of the French-German jury. “I find the idea of discussing film – its aesthetics, dramaturgy and acting – from the perspective of two cultures that I feel very close to really exciting.”