news / Press release
The graduation film »O Chale« from the ifs Internationale Filmschule Köln has been nominated for the New German Cinema Award in all four categories for its world premiere at the 41st Munich Film Festival (28.06. - 07.07.): ifs alumnus Jan Hendrik Lübbers has been nominated twice in the categories Best Screenplay (endowed with 10. 000) and Best Director (endowed with 30,000 euros), ifs alumnus Julius Nerlich for Best Producer (endowed with 20,000 euros) and Barnabas Kwaku Tinkorang, Atika Jumaih Bashiru, Raphael Kpakpo Allotey and Garvin Ahialey in the Best Actor category (endowed with 10,000 euros). They are thus among the talents from 14 films competing for the award.
The award, which is endowed with a total of 70,000 euros, is sponsored by the three partners DZ Bank AG, Bavaria Film and Bayerischer Rundfunk. In addition to the prize money, the Best Screenplay category includes a mentoring programme for the next screenplay and project development by Bavaria Fiction - possibly with the option of a share of the development costs.
The jury consisting of Mariko Minoguchi (director and screenwriter), Denis Moschitto (actor and director) and Florian Koerner von Gustorf (film producer) will decide on the New German Cinema Award 2024. The award ceremony will take place on the evening of 5 July.
The screening times for »5O Chale« at the Munich Film Festival are: 30.06. at 10am, 02.07. at 4pm, 04.07. at 6.30pm and 06.07. at 8pm.
In the docu-fiction »O Chale« (Director, Concept/Screenplay: Jan Hendrik Lübbers, Producer: Julius Nerlich, DoP: Jonas Thibaut, Editing & Sound Design: Hannes Gabelmann), funded by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, four friends in the hectic streets of the Ghanaian capital Accra live through the challenges of growing up: their lives are characterised by unstable plans for the future, complicated father-son relationships, traditional gender roles and the fear of losing their innocent childhood. The basketball court becomes the ideal place to playfully escape from everyday life.
The film was shot in Ghana with non-professional actors. The film team received local support from the community initiative DUNK Developing Unity Nurturing Knowledge and the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI) in Accra.
ifs professor and director Katalin Gödrös (Professor Directing) will also be showing her drama »Jakobs Ross« at the Munich Film Festival in the Spotlight category on 30 June, at 5:30 pm and 1 July at 3 pm. ifs professor and DoP Jutta Pohlmann (Professor Cinematography) will be represented with a cinematography work: »Hallo Spencer - Der Film« (directed by Timo Schierhorn) will premiere in the New German Television category on 2 July at 5 pm. Other films involving ifs alumni will also be screened: ifs alumna Lilly Bogenberger wrote the screenplay for »Wer ohne Schuld ist« (director: Sabrina Sarabi) together with David Weichelt (2 July, 3 pm, New German Television category); Benjamin Ikes is responsible for the editing of »Micha denkt groß« (director: Lars Jessen, Jan Georg Schütte) (30 June, 11 am, New German Television category); for the series »Perfekt verpasst« (director: Sabine Boss, Nicolas Berse-Gilles) Jeannine Compère is one of the editors, Genoveva Kylburg is responsible for the costume design (30.06., 5 pm, episode 1-3, category New German Television).
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