The German Newcomer Award, Deutscher Nachwuchsfilmpreis, has been presented biannually at up-and-coming since December 2005 with the glass Film Comet and prize money.
A renowned jury awards a prize to one piece of work in each of the age groups 16 and under, 17 to 22 and 23 to 27 in the director category.
To sharpen the orientation and objective of this newcomer film award and to allow the winning film makers to experience the sustainability of the award first-hand, there are patrons from the field of acting, production and directing whom the three prize winners can turn to for guidance.
Each patron has offered to provide his charge with feedback on a new, not yet begun film concept and opportunities of its realisation. This patronage is documented by the prize winner in the form of a blog and reviewed at the latest at the next up-and-coming film festival 2009.
The patrons for the award winners 2007
Peter Rommel (born 1954) founded his Berlin-based production company in 1993. The most well-known productions of “Peter Rommel Filmproduktion” include films he produced with director Andreas Dresen: “Nachtgestalten” (Night Shapes), “Halbe Treppe” (Grill Point) and “Sommer vorm Balkon” (Summer in Berlin). With these films, he won the Silver Berlin Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival twice. In May 2007, Peter Rommel founded the production company “Waterfall Production” located in Hanover together with the Berlin-based company Odeon and film-maker Thomas Häberle.
“Young talented people often just need a calming influence in the background, the traditional sweeper who can play the ball forward for them – so that they can fully develop their talent. Playing this position appeals to me.”
Regina Ziegler (born 1944) counts as one of the most productive and most successful German producers. She founded her Berlin-based production company at the age of 29. In total, she has produced more than 400 feature films, TV films, serials, series and documentaries. The business operates worldwide and is an independent family enterprise. The managing directors are Regina Ziegler and her daughter Tanja Ziegler.
Regina Ziegler was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Film Award, the Adolf Grimme Award, the Berlinale Camera and the American Cinema Foundation Award.
”We all started off in a small way, and if you never got any help you know what a difference it makes. This is why I’m glad to assist.”
Volker Engel (born 1965) founded the production company Uncharted Territory in Los Angeles in 1999 with his German colleague Marc Weigert. Their first feature film “Coronado” by Claudio Fäh (participant at up-and-coming in 1995 with the film “Virtual Reality”) was sold to 44 countries worldwide at the beginning of 2003.
Engel has collaborated with director Roland Emmerich as visual effects supervisor since 1988 and was involved in films such as “Independence Day”, “Godzilla”, “Universal Soldier” and “Moon 44”. For his work on “Independence Day”, he has received many awards and in 1997 he was the first German in film history to win the Oscar for best visual effects.
Volker Engel is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the European Film Academy, the British Academy for Film and Television Arts and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and at the age of 33 was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his dedicated efforts in helping German film newcomers.
Together with Marc Weigert he received an Emmy in August 2006 for the visual effects in the three-part TV-sequel “The Triangle”.
Volker Engel’s first work was the animated film “Das Wüstenrennen” which was shown in Hanover in 1982 at the “Erstes bundesweites Schülerfilmfestival” (First German-wide Students’ Festival) later to become the “up-and-coming”.
“I have agreed to be a patron, because the up-and-coming festival was a career springboard for me 25 years ago. The chance to present my films to an interested audience and, on top of that, to meet like-minded people gave me the courage back then to set my sights on making films as a career. I’d like to give some of that back. I enjoy helping young talents with their first steps into the wonderful world of film making, especially as part of the international event up-and-coming.”
