Berlin

Live from Berlin: Feo Aladag's WHEN WE LEAVE (DIE FREMDE) from Germany has been awarded the Europa Cinemas Label as Best European Film in the Panorama section of the 60th. Berlinale, it was announced today by a jury of four exhibitors - the seventh year the Label has been awarded in the section.

WHEN WE LEAVE (DIE FREMDE) will now receive the support of the Europa Cinemas exhibitors who commit themselves to extend the length of its run on screen and additional promotion across the network.

Reflecting the growth of Europa Cinemas' international activity outside Europe, the Europa Cinemas jury for this year's Berlin Festival included a Brazilian representative - Laura Bacqué/Exhibitor, Reserva Cultural) as well as Chistophe Maffi /Education officer, Cinema Le Navire, Aubenas (France); Mark Cosgrove/Exhibitor, Watershed, Bristol (United Kingdom) and Iris Praefke/Exhibitor, Moviemento Kino, Berlin (Germany).

The jury issued the following statement: "This is an emotionally powerful and profoundly human film about the struggle of a woman fighting for her family, confronted by the strict cultural rules of her upbringing. Feo Aladag directs with great assurance and cinematic flair, while the remarkable performance by leading actress Sibel Kekilli really brings the film to life. As multi-cultural societies develop around Europe, the subject matter of the film has increasing relevance and hopefully the Label will allow this film to resonate with audiences around Europe as widely as possible."

The debut feature from this Vienna born actress, WHEN WE LEAVE (DIE FREMDE) has already been sold by Telepool (Munich) to five European territories. Produced and written by Feo Aladag, the film's other producer is Züli Aladag, and the stars are Sibel Kekilli, Florian Lukas, Derya Alabora and Tamer Yigit. The production company is Independent Artists Filmproduktion, based in Berlin.

 "Stop dreaming!" says the mother to her twenty-five-year-old daughter Umay when she and her young son Cem appear at the door of her parents' Berlin apartment. Umay has run away from an unhappy marriage in Istanbul and has returned to Berlin because she wants to lead her own life again. She knows that she's expecting a lot from her parents and siblings

but she hopes that their loving relationship will mean more to them than the pressure of social conventions. Before long however she realises that her family cannot simply ignore their deep-seated traditions and the situation could well break them. When the family decides to restore the family's reputation by returning Cem to his father, Umay once again begs for their help - but ends up breaking with them for good. Umay falls in love with Stipe and she and Cem begin a new life. Umay tries to mend the relationship with her family, but doesn't realise that it's too late for reconciliation ...

Feo Aladag was born in Vienna in 1972. Besides training as an actor she studied communications and psychology in Vienna and London, graduating with a PhD in

the year 2000. A journalist, she has written screenplays for TV films and

attended post-graduate seminars in directing at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin (dffb). She and Züli Aladag founded Independent Artists Filmproduktion in 2004.

This marks the seventh year that the Europa Cinemas Label has been awarded at Berlin, and complements the Labels awarded at the Giornate degli Autori section in Venice, the Quinzaine des Realisateurs in Cannes, and Karlovy Vary.

The two films which won last year's Europa Cinemas Label at the Berlinale have enjoyed considerable success over the past year. Philippe Lioret's WELCOME won last year's European Parliament's Prix Lux, has been sold in 15 European territories and has enjoyed a considerable success in its French release with over a million admissions. Rune Denstad Langlo's NORD has been sold to 13 European territories to date, with the majority of releases planned for later this year.

Founded in 1992, the Europa Cinemas network around Europe now consists of a remarkable 2070 screens in 816 cinemas in 475 cities in 42 countries. Europa Cinemas' aim is to support the programming and visibility of European films outside their country of origin, and to foster initiatives aimed at encouraging younger audiences to develop their interest in European films and cultural diversity.

Previous winners of the Europa Cinemas Label are:

Cannes/Directors' Fortnight

2003:                The Mother (Roger Michell, UK)

                        Kitchen Stories (Bent Hamer, Norway/Sweden)

2004:                In the Battlefields / Dans les champs de bataille (Danielle Arbid, France / Belgium / Lebanon)

2005:                La Moustache (Emmanuel Carrère, France)

2006:                12:08 East of Bucharest/A Fost sau n-a fost ? (Corneliu Porumboiu, Romania)

2007:                Control (Anton Corbijn, UK)

2008:                Eldorado (Bouli Lanners, Belgium)

2009:                La Pivellina (Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel, Austria/Italy)

Berlin/Panorama

2005:                Live and Become / Radu Mihaileanu, France/Belgium/Israel)

Cockles and Muscles / Crustacés et Coquillages

(Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau, France)

2006:                Tough Enough / Knallhart (Detlev Buck, Germany)

2007:                El Camino de los Ingleses / Summer Rain (Antonio Banderas, Spain)

2008:                Revanche (Götz Spielmann, Austria)

2009:                Welcome (Philippe Lioret, France)

Nord (Rune Denstad Langlo, Norway)

Venice/Venice Days

2004:                Darwin's Nightmare / Le Cauchemar de Darwin (Hubert Sauper, Austria/France/Belgium)

2005:                Le Petit Lieutenant (Xavier Beauvois, France)

2006:                Dark Blue Almost Black / Azul Oscuro Casi Negro (Daniel Sánchez Arévalo, Spain)

2007:                Tricks / Sztuczki (Andrzej Jakimowski, Poland)

2008:                Machan (Uberto Pasolini UK/Germany)

2009:                The Last Days of Emma Blank (Alex van Warmerdam Netherlands/Belgium)

Karlovy Vary (Main Competition and East of the West section)

2006:                Frozen City / Valkoinen kaupunki (Aku Louhimies, Finland)

2007:                The Class / Klass (Ilmar Raag, Estonia)

2008:                Bahrtalo! Good Luck! (Róbert Lakatos, Hungary)

2009:                Applause (Martin Pieter Zandvliet, Denmark)

Europa Cinemas is supported by the MEDIA, Euromed Audiovisual II, programmes of the European Commission (Brussels), CNC (France),  FFA (Berlin), Eurimages (Council of Europe, Strasbourg), French Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs (Paris).

http://www.europa-cinemas.org/