THE HEINRICH COMPETITION

For the seventh time now the Braunschweig Film Festival will be awarding the audience prize, the "Heinrich" with its purse of €10,000 donated by the Feldschlößchen Brewery and the Volkswagen Bank.

Our cinematic journey this year begins and ends on an island. In "Le Silence" Olivier witnesses a murder on Corsica. In contrast, "L'Iceberg" offers us adventure at sea in a poetic comedy from Belgium.

In the Slovenian film "The Ruins" a charismatic theatre director puts on a spectacular play with the help of intrigues. But what to do when one's own life is revealed as a cheap film as in "Body Confusion" from Spain? The second Spanish contribution is "Los Nombres de Alicia". "Waves" from Italy tells a somewhat coy love story and in the polish contribution "The Welts" a young man must painfully learn to emancipate himself from his father.

The English-German co-production "Mouth to Mouth" is dedicated to a group of young runaways. Two films come from Ireland: "Headrush" is a racy criminal comedy about two clumsy drug couriers. "Trouble with Sex", on the other hand, deals with the problem of physical love - you can lose yourself in it.




Awarding Ceremony
Su, November 13 6:30 pm CinemaxX 5



The gala for the Heinrich Prize on Sunday at 6:30 pm will be presented by Catherine Ann Berger.

Catherine Ann Berger studied theatre and film in Vienna. In 1990 she was a guest student at Heiner Müller’s production of the play "Hamlet/Maschine" at the German Theatre in Berlin. Completing her studies, she worked as a documentary editor for Swiss TV. From 1997 till June 2003 she moderated the award-winning programme "Kulturzeit" on 3sat. Today she is a film reporter for Swiss television and works for the production firm "catpics coproductions" in cinematic and stage project development. For five years she has also been working for the documentary film festival "Visions du Réel" in Nyon (Switzerland).
At the 19th Braunschweig International Film Festival she presents the Heinrich Prize Gala as well as the Late Night Talks like a talkshow. In three evenings she will chat with directors, actors and producers about current projects, future plans and anecdotes from the set.




The Welts (Pregi)
Director: Magdalena Piekorz, PL 2004, 91 min, 35 mm, colour, GS
Th, November 9 7:45 pm CinemaxX 2 Guest: Magdalena Piekorz
Sa, November 12 5:45 pm CinemaxX 1 Guest: Magdalena Piekorz



Thirty-year-old Wojtek leads an apparently contented if rather eccentric life as a researcher. When he falls in love for the first time, his well-ordered world suddenly begins to totter. To his distress he is forced to admit how much he has come to resemble his hated, violent father, who still haunts him…An impressive, highly praised film debut.




Le Silence
Director: Orso Miret, F 2004, 104 min, 35 mm, colour, ES
We, November 9 5:30 pm CinemaxX 1 Guest: Natacha Régnier
Fr, November 11 7:45 pm CinemaxX 2 Guest: Natacha Régnier



Olivier spends a few days with his pregnant fiancée in his parents' house on Corsica. Here he visits old friends and learns the rules of social conduct, which are more in force here than on the mainland. When he is the witness to a murder, he is faced with a moral issue: either turn in the murderer and be excluded from the community or be an accomplice to the deed.




L'Iceberg
Director: Fiona Gordon/Dominique Abel/Bruno Romy, B 2005, 84 min, 35 mm, colour, GS
Th, November 10 5:30 pm CinemaxX 1 Guests: Dominique Abel, Fiona Gorden, Bruno Romy
Sa, November 12 7:45 pm CinemaxX 2 Guests: Dominique Abel, Fiona Gorden, Bruno Romy



Fiona decides to turn her back on home and family. In her search for happiness she becomes involved in an adventure at sea. The three directors, who also play the main roles, work with long takes, old-fashioned tricks and little dialogue. What results is a poetic, melancholy and, at the same time, optimistic comedy in the style of Buster Keaton and Jacques Tati.




Waves (Onde)
Director: Francesco Fei, I 2004, 92 min, 35 mm, colour, GS
Th, November 10 10:30 pm CinemaxX 1
Sa, November 12 5:15 pm CinemaxX 2 Guest: Francesco Fei



Francesca, who suffers from a disfiguring red birthmark on her face, feels attracted to the confident, blind Luca, but hesitates to begin a relationship with the enthused musician…This is the unusual, somewhat prim love story of two rather difficult people. A debut film with two great actors, impressive images and an exciting sound track.




Mouth to Mouth
Director: Alison Murray, GB/D 2004, 102 min, 35 mm, colour, GS
We, November 9 8:00 pm CinemaxX 1 Guest: Diane Greenwood
Fr, November 11 10:15 pm CinemaxX 2 Guest: Diane Greenwood



Sixteen-year-old London girl Sherry leaves home and follows the group called "SPARK" (Street People Armed with Radical Knowledge) - a motley bunch of freaks and junkies who share a very peculiar interpretation of community. In attempting to rescue Sherry, her mother also falls under the spell of the group. A film about the seductive and terrifying power of freedom.




Headrush
Director: Shimmy Marcus, IRL 2004, 85 min, 35 mm, colour, GS
Th, November 10 10:15 pm CinemaxX 2 Guest: Shimmy Marcus
Sa, November 12 8:15 pm CinemaxX 1 Guest: Shimmy Marcus



Charlie and his buddy T-Bag live for the day and perceive the world around them through a veil of drugs. Then Charlie's financial aid is discontinued and his girl-friend Vicky leaves him. In order to win her back, the boys go on a surreal trip through the underworlds of Dublin and Amsterdam. A much awarded criminal-comedy with bizarre guest appearances.




Body Confusion (Fuera del Cuerpo)
Director: Vicente Peñarrocha, E 2004, 104 min, 35 mm, colour, GS
We, November 9 5:15 pm CinemaxX 2
Fr, November 11 8:00 pm CinemaxX 1



Bruno, a young Spanish civil guard, experiences a hard time of personal and family crisis. His wife decides to abandon him and Bruno, under depression, by a coincidence discovers a "strange passage", which takes him to another level of reality. Bruno realizes, that his life is, in actual fact, only a movie, in which he plays a character.




Trouble with Sex
Director: Fintan Connolly, IRL 2005, 100 min, 35 mm, colour, GS
Th, November 10 5:15 pm CinemaxX 2 Guest: Fintan Conolly
Sa, November 12 10:30 pm CinemaxX 1 Guest: Fintan Conolly



Michelle is a young up-and-coming lawyer in Dublin who cares about her senile mother. Connor runs a small pub in the city, which belongs to his alcoholic father. After Michelle has left her friend Ivan, she chances to enter Conor's pub. They become friends, go out together, have sex and break up again. But the trouble with sex is that you can fall in love...




The Ruins (Ruševine)
Director: Janez Burger, SLO 2004, 100 min, 35 mm, GS
We, November 9 7:45 pm CinemaxX 2
Fr, November 11 10:30 pm CinemaxX 1



In order to achieve a spectacular debut, the leader of a small theatre troupe attempts, unbeknownst to his actors, to achieve extraordinary performances by playing on jealousies and love. But everything turns out quite differently from what he expected. A gripping, brilliantly produced film about the unpredictable interplay of life (in the theatre).




Los nombres de Alicia
Director: Pilar Ruiz Gutiérrez, E 2004, 103 min, 35 mm, colour, ES
Th, November 10 8:00 pm CinemaxX 1
Sa, November 12 10:15 pm CinemaxX 2 Guest: Pilar Ruiz Gutiérrez



Juan and Marisa lead a normal family life with their children in a small town on the north Spanish coast. When Mina enters this untouched world as an au-pair girl, the family gradually succumbs to the hypnotic and seductive charm of the enigmatic stranger who seems so innocent. They all become increasingly caught up in a web of assumptions, deceptions, desires and lies...




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