Berlin

Today, during the award ceremony of the Independent Juries of the 62nd Berlinale, the young French-German-Slovak jury awarded the "Dialogue en perspective" prize. This year the prize goes to Marten Persiel's film This Ain't California. The award was initiated in 2004 by the German-French Youth Office (DFJW), an official Berlinale partner, in association with the Berlin International Film Festival.

The young jury that decided who would receive the "Dialogue en perspective" prize consisted this year of one Slovak, three German and three French film fans between the ages of 20 and 26. Under the direction of jury president, director, actor and screenwriter Jan Henrik Stahlberg, the jurors watched the 13 entries in the Berlinale's Perspektive Deutsches Kino section from a young, German-French-Slovak perspective, and afterwards passionately discussed which film had impressed them most and deserved the "Dialogue en perspective" prize.

The jury explains its choice as follows: "The ‘Dialogue en perspective' award goes to This Ain't California because of its visual strength and the stylistic confidence of its editing. With gripping dynamics, it mixes personal history with the collective memory of the German Democratic Republic. We've rarely been so splendidly manipulated." With the "Dialogue en perspective" prize, the DFJW would like to promote, on the one hand, the exchange between German and French young people and, on the other hand, the intercultural dialogue on film, especially the dialogue on young German cinema.

In 2011, Dirk Lütter's film Die Ausbildung (The Education) won the prize. Previous winners of the "Dialogue en perspective" prize included Lebendkontrolle (Outside) by Florian Schewe (2010), Prinzessinnenbad (Pool of Princesses) by Bettina Blümner (2007), Der Lebensversicherer (Running on Empty) by Bülent Akinci (2006) and Robert Thalheim's film Netto (Net) (2005). They all went on to achieve widespread recognition in Germany. The chances are good that This Ain't California will also receive similar attention after winning this award.

Further information can be found at http://www.dialogue-en-perspective.org/ and http://www.berlinale.de/