At the 54th Berlin International Film Festival a further component has been established for promoting cultural understanding between Germany and France.

In cooperation with the Franco-German Youth Office (DFJW) and the Berlin International Film Festival, the French channel TV 5 is initiating the prize Dialogue en perspective for an outstanding work screened in the Berlinale's Perspektive Deutsches Kino. Founded just three years ago, this section presents innovative new cinema from Germany and focuses on a young generation of German directors and their distinctive styles.

In view of the very favorable response to Perspektive Deutsches Kino from both audiences and critics in the last years, as well as the current international success of German cinema, the time has arrived to award a new prize, one which will open up doors abroad.

The prize aspires to make new German cinema more accessible to young French audiences. Thus the winning film will also be presented at the Festival of German Film in Paris.

The jury, which will consist of four French and three German members and a jury president, is being put together at this very moment. Applications from non-professionals from France and Germany, between the ages of 18 and 29, who are interested and versed in film are still being accepted. All members of the jury will be invited (including traveling expenses and accommodations) to the Berlinale, where they will then view all the films in the programme and award the new prize on February 14, 2004.

"The language of the cinema is universal", Alfred Holighaus, head of Perspektive Deutsches Kino, remarked. "This is why film is not just a medium of entertainment but also of understanding. We want to emphasize this fact with this prize."

The deadline for jury applications is January 21, 2004. Terms of participation and further information can be found at www.dfjw.org and www.berlinale.de.