We proudly present the winner of the 8th Baumi Script Development Award:
Dénes Nagy
THE VACATION
"Dénes Nagy portrays his endearing characters with authenticity and humour. His approach involves
extensive research which we are happy to support with the Baumi Award," says this year's guest
juror Andreas Dresen.
Jury statement:
Dénes Nagy follows a special approach by involving his amateur actors in the script’s development. This means that the screenplay is then adapted to the real characters. What we like about "The Vacation" is the humour which also results from misunderstandings. The characters in the film are travelling abroad for the first time; they only speak Hungarian, but they are forced to cover up their insecurity as best they can and still have fun. But when we laugh, we are doing this without passing any judgement. We are on the same level as the characters; we go along with them and don’t know any more than they do. We are pleased to present the award to this exceptional script development by the film artist Dénes Nagy.
About the film:
Feci, a man in his mid-40s from the Hungarian sticks, goes on a group vacation with his wife for the first time in his life to the Côte d'Azur. He is incredibly shocked when it turns out that he has to go into quarantine once he arrives in his hotel room. This forces him to embark on an inner journey of discovery and leads him to acknowledge his own freedoms and limitations
For the full Jury motivation, please refer to the press section.
We proudly present the ex aequo winners of the 7th Baumi Script Development Award:
Dea Kulumbegashvili
HISTORIA
Visar Morina
with Dorentina Basha
HATIXHE AND SHABAN
"With our decision to present the award to two filmmakers, we would like to support both of the outstanding projects by Dea Kulumbegashvili and Visar Morina at the same level. Although they have different approaches, both feature film projects describe great humanity and offer an accurate political picture of their characters and the societies they live in," this year's guest juror Ildikó Enyedi said.
About the Film / Jury statement:
HISTORIA
The obstetrician Nina is working in a rural Georgian hospital where contraception and abortion are not accepted. But Nina - "a fallen angel" - does what no one else is prepared to do. She risks her own life by performing illegal abortions for women who ask for her help.
Dea Kulumbegashvili creates a unique world of poetry in her feature film project "Historia". The mixture of realism and fantasy elements gives her idea a very special kind of approach.
About the film/ jury statement:
HATIXHE AND SHABAN
A family in rural Kosovo loses its farm and is forced to move to the city to earn a living.
Visar Morina’s feature film project describes a refugee story in his own country. "Hatixhe and Shaban" speaks about dignity and shame and is reminiscent stylistically of the films of Italian neorealism. A dramatic and honest story about identity in Kosovo, very close to the author Visar Morina’s own personal experiences. Co-written with Dorentina Basha.
For the full Jury motivation, please refer to the press section.
We proudly present the winner of the 6th Edition Baumi Script Development Award:
Shahrbanoo Sadat
KABUL JAN
In the romantic comedy-drama “Kabul Jan”, a young woman camera operator falls head over heels in love with a married television reporter who is also twice her age to boot. The conflict between young love and the morality of Afghan society calls for 'unheard of' ways of being together romantically.
"Shahrbanoo Sadat's story of a young woman camera operator who works in Kabul's best- known TV station and begins a love affair made me extremely curious. I am therefore very pleased that we can support Shahrbanoo Sadat with the Baumi Award in her endeavour to tell a seemingly everyday story from contemporary Kabul. It was a pleasure to be able to be involved in presenting this award as it makes it possible to get projects off the ground at an early and fragile stage,” this year's guest juror Maren Ade says.
For the full Jury motivation, please refer to the press section.
We proudly present the winner of the 5th Edition Baumi Script Development Award:
Amy Jephta
HAVE YOU SEEN RITA
The skin color of the forty-year-old housewife Rita Hoefling from Cape Town, who had until then enjoyed the privileges of being a white South African, began to darken in 1973 due to an illness. Expelled from the white community, she was welcomed into homes by the residents in the segregated townships. And then, one day in 1978, Rita spontaneously turned white again. She tried to go back to her old life, but her family deleted her from their life as if she had never existed.
“I can imagine a very original film: the voice of a young African woman. The topic is very relevant and deals with problems that we still have to struggle with today”, says this year’s guest juror Małgorzata Szumowska.
For the full Jury motivation, please refer to the press section.
We proudly present the winner of the 4th Edition Baumi Script Development Award:
Martin Rehbock
THE MULE WITH THREE LEGS
Shortly before his retirement, the Irish postman Declan registers to participate in the newly established Constitutional Convention and is not only faced with the young and gay Patrick, but also has to overcome his own prejudices to really make a difference.
The treatment promises a humorous film with very authentic and well-defined characters. In „The Mule with Three Legs“, the retired postman Declan has the courage to question his life so far by seeing how much he had been a prisoner of his own prejudices. We believe in the story's international theatrical potential and hope that Martin Rehbock may perhaps soon find partners in Ireland for the film's realisation with the support of the Baumi Award.
For the full Jury motivation, please refer to the press section.
We proudly present the winner of the 3rd Edition Baumi Script Development Award:
Soudade Kaadan
NEZOUH
During the Syrian conflict in Damascus, a missile destroys the ceiling of Zeina’s house. For the first time, the young girl is sleeping under the stars. She had previously been forbidden even to open a window. For the first time, she sees the outside world and makes friends with Amer, the boy next door. But Zeina feels guilty about her short-lived happiness when she sees her father, Mutaz, burst into tears at the sight of the destruction to his house and life. He hangs a bed sheet on every falling wall until her house looks like a grotesque tent. When the violence in Damascus escalates, Amer's family decides to leave. But Zeina's father refuses to become a refugee. The women in the family though have nothing more to lose and join the others who are fleeing. Zeina soon discovers that a window is now opening up to a new life for her.
For the full Jury motivation, please refer to the press section.
We proudly present the winner of the 2nd Edition Baumi Script Development Award:
Kuba Czekaj
SORRY, POLAND!
Jan Kowalski, an average Polish fortysomething, is a dancer in a folk song & dance ensemble. Kowalski dreams of becoming the principal dancer, but is still only dancing in the second row. Incapable of assertiveness, he keeps declaring his desire for change. A tour by the ensemble to Taiwan might finally bring about the longed-for changes. He wants to find answers to his questions during this journey into the unknown, to a mysterious and exotic land. But it all turns out quite differently when he realises that escaping doesn't change anything. At the end, he returns to Poland and finds an inner strength and readiness to take up the fight.
For the full Jury motivation, please refer to the press section.
We proudly present the winner of the 1st Edition Baumi Script Development Award:
Omar El Zohairy
FEATHERS OF A FATHER
When a family loses it's patriarch, they would do almost anything to survive in his absence; but, with an oppressive illiterate society they end up exhibiting the worst traits of a patriarch/dictator themselves.
"The story's originality and freshness immediately impressed us as a jury. In "Feathers of a Father", Omar El Zohairy tells a bizarre story in which he dares to address a highly political and topical subject. A story which would have immediately thrilled Baumi and his great love for world cinema," says Fatih Akin.
For the full Jury motivation, please refer to the press section.