Film – Saarbrücken – Online award ceremony at the end of the MOP film festival – Culture

Saarbrücken (dpa) – This year’s Max Ophüls Preis (MOP) film festival in Saarbrücken ends this Saturday (7.30 p.m.) with the award of 16 prizes totaling 118,500 euros. Because of the corona pandemic, the 42nd edition took place for the first time as a complete online edition. The MOP is considered the most important festival for young German-language film.

The award ceremony will be broadcast free of charge on the MOP’s streaming platform and YouTube channel. The event will be moderated live by TV presenter Tobias Krell. Festival director Svenja Böttger and artistic director Oliver Baumgarten will award the 16 prizes one after the other from the living room of the MOP festival radio. The laudations of the respective juries are pre-recorded and played accordingly. The winners will be connected live via zoom and will receive a message with a 3D animation of the trophy.

Saarbrücken’s Lord Mayor Uwe Conradt (CDU) is connected to the award of the last trophy, the Max Ophüls Prize for the best feature film. The prize, which is endowed with 36,000 euros, is awarded by the film festival together with the state capital.

Festival director Böttger drew an initial positive balance during the week. “Overall, things are going well, even if the technology sometimes jerks a little,” she told the German press agency. The organizers received a lot of positive feedback from the audience, but also from the filmmakers. “So far we can say that we have succeeded in adapting the festival to digital.”

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210122-99-134386 / 1

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