PRIZE-WINNERS*

Awarded Programmes 2021

CIVIS - Europe's Media Prize for Migration, Integration and Cultural Diversity honours programme achievements in radio, television and the Internet which promote peaceful coexistence in the European immigration society.
     

TOP AWARD + CIVIS AUDIO AWARD

Podcasts

Rice and Shine Hamburg 1980: Rightwing Terror Flaring Up Again

Podcast
Authors: Minh Thu Tran, Vanessa Vu

The arson attack on a refugee shelter in Hamburg, in which two young men from Vietnam died in August 1980, was the first racist murder in the Federal Republic. The three perpetrators are seen as precursors to the NSU. But the act itself has all but disappeared from public consciousness. The authors reconstruct what happened and its consequences, 40 years later. Survivors, friends and relatives are given a voice in powerful quotes.

“In Hamburg 1980: Als der rechte Terror wieder aufflammte, the authors reconstruct a crucial moment in German postwar history. Their piece gives a face to the people behind the story – an incredibly stirring one at that, not least because of impressive original quotes given plenty of space.”

YOUNG C. AWARD

 

Seahorse

Short film
Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg
Author & director: Nele Dehnenkamp
Examiner: Thomas Lauterbach
Co-producer: Christine Duttlinger

The seahorse has provided the name for the part of the brains that acts as a gateway to our memories: the hippocampus. It is used to archive things we cannot forget, pleasant and unpleasant memories alike. The young Yazidi woman Hannan could not swim when she crossed the Mediterranean with her family in an inflatable boat. Now she is learning how not to sink, just like a seahorse. But the fear of drowning in the dark waters remains alive in her memory.

“The magnificent cinematographic aesthetics create a convincingly poetic connection between the sound and the images. The film conveys the oppressive duality of water as a medium of happiness and doom. Seepferdchen gives the protagonist space to illustrate the traumatic effects of flight and how a young person can confront these experiences.”

CIVIS VIDEO AWARD

Information

ProSieben Spezial. Rightwing. German. Radical.

Documentary
PQPP2 GmbH | ProSieben
Authors: Anja Buwert, Thilo Mischke
Director: Anja Buwert Editing: Jan A. Karon, Elisabeth Krafft, Isabelle Lange, Sigrid Reuter
Production: Caspar Fischer, Anja Buwert

Thilo Mischke and his team spent a year researching in the radical right-wing scene. How do the organisations work in this segment of society? How do they recruit new members? How much do they have in common and where do they differ? And how much of a threat do they present to the rule of law and democracy? The brutal statement by a former functionary of the AfD Party leaves no room for doubt: It is a huge threat, bent on destruction and murder

“Rechts. Deutsch. Radikal. lives off the tension between the coarse brutality of its subject matter and the cautious tone adopted by the narrator. It offers close-up views of the militant right wing, but without pandering. And in doing so it reveals Germany’s ugliest side. This is instructive and horrifying, even more so as the film adopts a nuanced approach.”

CIVIS VIDEO AWARD

Entertainment

Gentlemen

TV film
Kineo Filmproduktion Peter Hartwig and cinema negro Filmproduktion Sidney Martins | BR, ARTE Deutschland
Author: Stefanie Kremser (based on the novel GENTS by Warwick Collins)
Director: Dirk Kummer
Editing: Claudia Simionescu (BR), Monika Lobkowicz (BR/ARTE)
Production: kineo Filmproduktion Peter Hartwig and cinema negro Filmproduktion (Sidney Martins) 
Custom production: BR, ARTE for DasErste

Ezequiel is an expert in martial arts and would like to teach capoeira. But as a Black man with an immigrant background, he is forced to accept whichever job offers he gets: “monument care”. In plain language: cleaning public urinals at night. He doesn’t dare tell either his wife or his son Stevie about it. Stevie should go to university and embark on a promising career. That’s what Ezequiel thinks. But Stevie has other plans: he wants to be a hairdresser.

“Herren tells of a father’s search for meaning during a midlife crisis. It is a universal story, but one that plays out in the ordinary lives of Black people in Germany. Unhurried, with great actors and an imaginative visual design, the film portrays a slice of diversity in Germany that many still have difficulty accepting.”

Currently no media library availability

CIVIS VIDEO AWARD

Social Media Format

May I Touch Your Hair? - Everyday Racism in Germany

Social media format
WDR COSMO
Authors: Michel Abdollahi, Miriam Anna Hochhard, Janina Kalle, Daphne Ivana Sagner, Jan-Nicholas Vogt, Robert Weitkamp
Directors: Jan-Nicholas Vogt, Robert Weitkamp Editing: Tobias Gnädig, Miriam Anna Hochhard
Production: Michel Abdollahi (Telemichel Produktionsgesellschaft mbH)

It is an everyday experience, especially for BPOC: somebody takes the liberty of touching their hair. Just like that, permission taken for granted. But it is still a gesture of marginalisation, with the message: you are different. The COSMO team turned the tables and asked people on the street if they could touch their hair. The response was lively and instructive.

“Darf ich Dir in die Haare fassen? is a genuinely interactive video: by reversing the roles, a seemingly harmless gesture is exposed for what it is: a piece of everyday racism. Unfolding almost playfully, this video creates an illuminating interplay, one that is sensitively presented and serious but also humorously ironic and cleverly adapted to the formats of social media.”

CIVIS AUDIO AWARD

Short Programmes

The Morning: What’s Left Are Just Words

Report with interludes
Saarländischer Rundfunk | SR2 Kulturradio
Author: Sabine Wachs

This brief report tells the story of two fathers brought together by the terrorist attack on the Bataclan concert hall in Paris. Georges Salines lost his daughter Lola in the November 2015 bloodbath; Azdyne Amimour’s son Samy was one of the Islamist terrorists shot dead by police. In an attempt to come to terms with the horror, the two men forge a kind of friendship. Together, they write a book entitled: “Il nous reste les mots” (Uns bleiben nur die Worte – For us, what’s left are just words).

“Uns bleiben nur die Worte reveals what is often neglected: the victims’ perspective. Including the father of a radicalised perpetrator as he as well is among those scarred for life. Powerful quotes and dialogue bring us closer to the father of one innocent victim. Both of them take each other seriously in their pain and loss. A tour de force of constructive journalism that builds tension and compels viewers to think again.”

CIVIS AUDIO AWARD

Long Programmes

Hörbilder: „Welcome to Weikendorf”

Feature
Österreichischer Rundfunk | Ö1
Author & director: Claudia Gschweitl
Editing: Simon Elmes, Eva Roither, Elisabeth Stratka

The small village of Weikendorf in Lower Austria is thrown into turmoil in summer 2019 when a Palestinian family of eleven decides to buy a house. The mayor refuses to approve the purchase, and a citizens’ initiative to prevent them from coming gains traction. But the inhabitants of Weikendorf reject being labelled as racists in the media. The family father writes to senior figures in Austrian politics, but to no avail. A protracted legal dispute ensues.

“The report Willkommen in Weikendorf charts the different positions in a bitter controversy over refugees in a small village in Lower Austria. It succeeds thanks to gripping direct quotes as well as a sophisticated dramaturgy. Conflict is not papered over but followed in its numerous twists and turns upholding suspense until the very end. Inspirational radio!”

You can listen to the full contribution here:
(air date: 27.06.2020)

CIVIS CINEMA AWARD

 

FUTUR DREI

Drama (Kinostart: 24.09.2020)
Regie: Faraz Shariat
Drehbuch: Faraz Shariat, Paulina Lorenz
Darsteller:innen: Benjamin Radjaipour, Banafshe Hourmazdi, Eidin Jalali, Mashid, Nasser, Maryam Zaree, Abak Safaei-Rad, Jürgen Vogel, Knut Berger, Paul Lux, Niels Bormann, Hadi Khanjanpour, Katarina Gaub, Sevil Mokhtare, Vanessa Loibl, Armin Warhedi u.a.
Produktion: Jünglinge Film
Ko-Produktion: Jost Hering Filme, Iconoclast Germany, La Mosca Bianca Films
Produzent:innen: Paulina Lorenz, Faraz Shariat
Filmverleih: Salzgeber

Parvis, Kind wohlhabender iranischer Einwanderer*innen führt ein behütetes Leben. Er langweilt sich in der Provinz und möchte etwas erleben, sucht nach einem Kick. Schließlich begeht er einen Ladendiebstahl und muss Sozialstunden als Übersetzer in einer Unterkunft für Geflüchtete leisten. Dort freundet er sich mit den iranischen Geschwistern Banafshe und Amon an. Zwischen ihm und Amon entwickelt sich eine Liebe. Doch allen Beteiligten ist klar: Sie leben in ganz unterschiedlichen Welten.