Kayaking across the Mecklenburg Lake District: The dropout drama “Alaska” is the best newcomer film of the year. At the MOP Film Festival, which is taking place in attendance again for the first time, two new acting hopes in German film, Alina Stiegler and Augustin Groz, will also receive awards.
Max Gleschinski’s film “Alaska” won the €36,000 Max Ophüls Prize for the best feature film in Saarbrücken on Saturday evening. The awards for the best young actors went to Alina Stiegler, who plays the main character Karo in the film “Speak with me” by Janin Halisch, who is working through her relationship with her absent father, and Augustin Groz. In “Who we once wanted to be” by Özgür Anil, Groz plays Patrick, who has gotten into trouble and who is turning his sister Anna’s life upside down.
For the first time since the corona pandemic, the film festival Max Ophüls Preis (MOP) for young German-language film took place again in attendance. At the 44th edition, there were a total of 18 awards for young filmmakers with a total value of 118,500 euros.
The award-winning feature film “Alaska” tells the story of the loner Kerstin (Christina Große), who spends days gliding across the Mecklenburg Lake District in her red East German kayak – trying to stay alone. Then Alima (Pegah Ferydoni) shows up and breaks the regularity of this journey. “The interplay of the outstanding ensemble, the poetic camera work, the complex and precise staging lead to an unmistakable, magical cinematic experience,” praised the jury.
However, “Breaking the Ice” by the Austrian Clara Stern received the most awards: for the best screenplay, for the socially relevant film and for the youth jury. He tells of Mira (Alina Schaller), the captain of an ice hockey team, who falls in love with the new player Theresa (Judith Altenberger).
