Linz09 Endows Crossing Europe Award European Competition
Martin Heller, Pia Marais, Christine Dollhofer
Linz09 endowed the Crossing Europe Award European Competition for the first time in 2007. Last weekend, the winner was crowned: young German director Pia Marais.
The Crossing Europe Award 2007 European Competition including a cash prize of €10,000 went to “Die Unerzogenen” (The Unpolished) by Pia Marais (Germany 2007). The international jury gave rave reviews to the young German director’s debut feature about growing up in a hippie family living on the margins of legality. The Festival’s grand prize was endowed by Linz09 for the first time this year, and Martin Heller presented it to the winner at a Saturday evening ceremony.This year's winner of the ray Audience Award is “Avril / April in Love” by Gérald Hustache-Mathieu. The Crossing Europe Award Local Artist was shared by Libertad Hackl for her film “Bleiben will ich, wo ich nie gewesen bin” (I Want to Stay Where I’ve Never Been) along with Lukas Marxt and Michael Petri for “Nach der Eishöhle” (After the Ice Cave). The OK Friends Art Prize was also bestowed at the awards ceremony; the recipient is Bosnian artist Sejla Kameric, this year's O.K Artist-in-Residence in conjunction with Crossing Europe 2007.
The Crossing Europe Festival staff was quite pleased with this year's turnout: the film lineup and the program of events attracted 13,000 visitors, a significant increase over the prior year. The next Crossing Europe is set for April 22-27, 2008.
