Open call for seventh Baumi Script Development Award
- Development grant for outstanding international cinematic stories
- Apply online at baumi-award.com by October 15
- This year’s guest juror is the Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi
September 15, 2021 sees the call for applications being launched again for the Baumi Script Development Award which is endowed with 20,000 Euros for the development of outstanding cinematic stories. Starting today, German and international writers can apply for the script award at www.baumi-award.com.
Initiated in 2015 by Martina and Sandra Baumgartner, Pandora Film and the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, the Award aims to facilitate free and independent script development and, at the same time, honour the memory of the film producer and distributor Karl "Baumi" Baumgartner.
The prerequisite for an application is that one should have had at least one screenplay filmed and the submission must be made together with a production company. A synopsis (3 to max. 5 pages) must be submitted in English. The Award consists of a prize sculpture and the prize-money. The prize-money is earmarked for script development. The Award will be presented during the 2022 Berlinale.
A jury with the three "permanent" members of the Award donors and one annually changing guest juror decides on the submissions.
The award-winning Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi is this year’s guest juror. Ildikó Enyedi began her career as a conceptual and media artist. She was a member of the Indigo group of artists and the Béla Balázs Studio, the only independent film studio in Eastern Europe before 1989, and later turned to directing feature films and writing screenplays. Her debut film "Az én XX. századom" (My 20th Century, 1989) was awarded the Caméra d’Or at Cannes. Ildikó Enyedi returned to the spotlight of world cinema with her fifth feature film "Testről és lélekről" (Body and Soul, 2017). She won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale and was not only nominated for an Oscar, but also for several European Film Awards. Ildikó Enyedi has been a jury member at many major film festivals including Berlin, Venice, Moscow and San Sebastián. This year, she presented her new international feature film "The Story of My Wife" (2021) in competition at Cannes.
Previous jury members were Maren Ade (2020), Małgorzata Szumowska (2019), Bent Hamer (2018), Martina Gedeck (2017), Fatih Akin (2015), and Aki Kaurismäki (2016).
The first Baumi Award winner Omar El Zohairy was able to shoot his supported project "Feathers" in Egypt as an international co-production and won the main prize of the Semaine de la Critique sidebar at this year’s Festival de Cannes. Production of the sixth Baumi Award project – "Kabul Jan" by the Afghan filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat – is currently being prepared by Adomeit Films.
The Award’s founders would like to extend their special thanks to Friederike Zeit for designing and making the prize sculpture, Katja Clos for the graphics and logo, and to Fritz Erler for programming the website.