On September 30th, the program prizes of the DEFA Foundation were awarded in Berlin. This honored the curatorial work of the IFFF Dortmund+Köln, in particular the continuous examination of films by East German female directors from the GDR and the post-reunification period.

»If you ask more precisely, you will find what you are looking for… The curator Betty Schiel and the festival director Maxa Zoller have succeeded in bringing together three generations of female filmmakers with East German backgrounds for the first time and to think together…. With their open perspective, they look for what they have in common rather than what divides them. …In this sense, many would have wished for East and West to come together in this sense as early as 1990….I beg you – stay curious.« (Laudation: Cornelia Klauß, Academy of Arts Berlin).

The prize, which is endowed with 5,000 euros, is expressly intended for the focus program of the IFFF Dortmund+Köln 2020 »After the reunification. Germany 1990|2020« and the resulting publication »What we filmed – films by East German women directors after 1990« (Bertz+Fischer 2021, Shop). The prize comes, as festival director Dr. Maxa Zoller said at the award ceremony, »at the right moment, it couldn’t have been better. The prize will really go into the substantive work that we will certainly accomplish in these globally difficult times – especially with regard to feminism.«

Photo © DEFA Foundation/André Wagenzik

Award ceremony