ifs graduation films nominated three times for FIRST STEPS film award

- Graduation film "El Mártir" is nominated for the Young Talent Award in the category Medium-Length Feature Film
- Animated graduation film "Bloom" is nominated in the Short Steps category
- El Mártir" DP Zoé Dumas receives nomination for Michael Ballhaus Award

The graduation film "El Mártir" (Director: Alejandro Mathé, Screenplay: Alejandro Mathé, Jose Alberto Arias Pereira, Production: Anna Weber, DoP: Zoé Dumas, Production Design: Luca Wirtz, Editing & Sound Design: Leo Muheim) of the ifs Internationale Filmschule Köln has been nominated for this year's FIRST STEPS young film award. In the medium-length feature film category, "El Mártir" is competing with two other films for the 12,000 euro prize.

For her cinematography on "El Mártir", DoP and ifs graduate Zoé Dumas receives a nomination for the Michael Ballhaus Award for DoP Graduates, endowed with €7,000.
Another ifs graduation film nominated in the Short Steps category is the animated film "Bloom" (Director / Animation: Michael Dämmig, VFX: Philipp Kaufhold, Production: Luisa Beuschlein, DoP: Pasindu Goldmann, Sound Design: Marius Schaaf).

With this new category, FIRST STEPS is opening up to the diversity of creative work. Creative formats up to 7 minutes such as commercials, music videos, social spots, web formats, fictional and documentary works as well as animations are eligible for submission. The new category comes with a prize money of 5,000 €.

Three nominations will be made in each of the three categories, each worth 1,000 euros. All nominated filmmakers will be invited to a special social programme around the award ceremony.

In "El Mártir", a young man is obsessed with the half-naked figure of Jesus Christ and embarks on a dangerous path of masochistic self-destruction.
The film is funded by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW.
In "Bloom", Karl is different from the other trees in the jungle. He bears no fruit, is smaller and has grown crooked. When a falling mango opens up an unexpected opportunity for him, he has to decide who he really wants to be.

The German FIRST STEPS awards for young filmmakers will be presented on 8 October 2023 at the Theater des Westens in Berlin. If you want to be there live, you can watch the award ceremony from 7 p.m. onwards in the livestream of the ARD media library.

The FIRST STEPS Young Talent Award is the most important award for graduating films from film schools in the German-speaking countries. With a total of 131,000 euros, it is the highest endowed prize for young filmmakers and will be awarded in ten prize categories for the first time this year. This year 219 entries were accepted.

It was founded in 1999 as a private initiative of the film industry by the producers Bernd Eichinger and Nico Hofmann. It is organised by the Deutsche Filmakademie e.V. in partnership with Amazon Studios, ARD, Seven.One Entertainment Group, Studio Hamburg, UFA and Warner Bros, Discovery to promote young filmmakers sustainably and effectively.

Created on 22.08.2023