Budding Filmmakers and Professional Training in Germany

For ten years now the First Steps Award has been bestowed on up-and-coming, young talent who make films in the German language. The event was brought into being by some of the film sector’s more established protagonists and every year it turns the spotlight on young newcomers to the business.

Berlin, Potsdamer Platz, Marlene Dietrich Platz 1. This is the place where every February the entries for the Berlin Film festival are presented and becomes a stomping ground for international movie stars and people from the media. Once a year however the red carpet is once again rolled out – this time for the business’s new blood. On a warm evening in August the newcomers make their way across the glorious crimson pile, surrounded by actors, directors and producers who have already made a name for themselves in the realm of cinema and television.

Most of them are graduates from the German film schools, but there are also a few filmmakers from outside who are there for the thrill of a festive awards ceremony. The celebrities accompanying them (in 2009 it was stars like Veronica Ferres, Til Schweiger, Rosa von Praunheim and Regina and Tanja Ziegler) cause quite a stir in the media. These celebrities however are not just at the First Steps Award event for the ride. After the prizes have been awarded and the obligatory group photo has been taken they all go to the after-party and there, far removed from the flurry of camera flashes, both newcomers and “old-hands” have the opportunity to get to know each other and talk about the business in general, their ideas and their dreams.

2009 was the tenth anniversary of the First Steps Award. It is backed by Nico Hofmann’s production company teamWorx, German Free TV, Mercedes-Benz, Spiegel TV and for quite a few years now by the Deutsche Filmakademie (German Film Academy). The event is endowed with a total of 72,000 euros, which is spread over five categories like short, medium-length and full-length film, as well as documentary and commercial spot; a further 8,000 euros were added in this anniversary year for a special award for screenwriting. It is the first prize that the film sector has initiated in collaboration with German business for young German-language filmmakers.

A regular date in the business’s diary

When the prize was launched, it was accompanied a veritable boom in opening of film schools (for example, in Cologne, Hamburg and Ludwigsburg), as well as a surge of interest in the German film and its new talent. A few years later the Berlinale started to focus once again more on German productions. The new young filmmakers were given their own section – “Perspectives of German Cinema” – that was enthusiastically received by audiences. TV stations also became interested in the subjects and points of view of the future generation of filmmakers – up until then they had mostly only been interested in giving them old, tried and tested program slots like “Das kleine Fernsehspiel” (a short play made for TV).

Although German TV with its mainstream leanings is not particularly famous at the moment for having budgets and program slots galore, the First Steps Award has now become a regular date in the sector’s diary – market fluctuations notwithstanding. This is why this year’s awards saw many editors from TV companies among the audience, as Nico Hoffmann was able ascertain when he glanced round the stalls.

In the past ten years the First Steps Award has discovered many new directing talents. For example, Hans Weingartner, who, with his film 2004 Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei (The Edukators) was the first director for a long time to have a German film entered at the Cannes Film Festival. Then there was Florian Gallenberger, whose film John Rabe won four Lolas at the German Film Awards; in the same year Marco Kreuzpaintner was nominated for the same prize with his film Krabat. Maren Ade’s film Alle Anderen (Everyone Else) managed to impress the international jury at the 2009 Berlinale so much that he was able to walk away with two Silver Bear prizes.

Enabling new talent to gain a sustainable foothold in the business

The main objective of the First Steps Award is not only to give new talent a chance to enjoy the limelight for a moment, but also to enable them to gain a sustainable foothold in the business. Andrea Hohnen, who for years has been organising the event with her colleague Bettina Femers, confirms that this is exactly what happens.

When she looks at the list of nominees and award-winners from the last ten years, she derives a great deal of satisfaction from it. “Not all of them make films,” she says, “but many of them work regularly in television and there is hardly anybody on the list who has given up a career in this field.” The reason she is so sure of this is because she maintains contact with the new talent after the awards ceremony and all of their filmographies are entered on a carefully maintained website where they are constantly updated. “If somebody is looking for new talent,” she explains with a hint of pride, “then they will most certainly find it in our catalogue.”

It is more than just a prize

The First Steps Award helps people, as the title implies, to take their first steps in the business. The newcomers can make contacts and obtain support in the form of sponsorship, which members of the German Film Academy are ready to supply, if they are asked. The nominated and prize-winning films are shown abroad in collaboration with the German Federal Foreign Office and the Goethe-Institut.

It is not just the glamour of a gala event that is left at the end of the day. It is an event that opens doors, lets people get to know each other, initiates fruitful cooperation and furthermore solidarity, too. “As is the case every year there were many former prize-winners among the guests this year,” says Andrea Hohnen. They all stay in touch. That is why a former nominee was able to give the young filmmakers a few words of comfort. Marco Kreuzpaintner told of a graduation ceremony at a film school at which the head of the school resorted to the following words, “Don’t think for one minute that you are all going to get a job.” Kreuzpaintner however went on to say, “Don’t let anybody dampen your spirit, you have to really believe that you are going to be the next Tarantino.”