Three awards for "Great Freedom" in Sarajevo

The MDM-funded romantic drama "Great Freedom" by Sebastian Meise won three awards at the 27th Sarajevo Film Festival yesterday evening. In addition to the main prize for best feature film, the German-Austrian co-production also won the trophy for best actor (Georg Friedrich) and the CICAE Award, which is presented by the European Arthouse Cinema Association.

MDM Managing Director Claas Danielsen: "After the Jury Prize in the Cannes section Un Certain Regard, now no less than three awards for this poignant drama at the most important festival in Southeast Europe! I congratulate Sebastian Meise, his team and the producers Rohfilm Productions and Freibeuter Film on this wonderful success."

In "Great Freedom", Austrian director Sebastian Meise tells of a time when homosexuality was still punishable in Germany. Hans Hoffmann (Franz Rogowski) is 20 years old when he is imprisoned because of his love for men for the first time. Paragraph 175 destroys all his hopes for a life of freedom and dignity. In prison he meets the convicted murderer Viktor (Georg Friedrich). Over the years, mutual loathing turns into love.

The film's main shooting location was the former prison in Magdeburg in 2020. The production by Leipzig-based Rohfilm Productions and Freibeuter Film from Vienna was funded by the MDM, the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the BKM, the DFFF as well as the Vienna Film Fund, the Austrian Film Institute and FISA - Film Location Austria. ORF and ZDF are broadcasting partners. Piffl Medien will release "Great Freedom" in German cinemas on 18th November.

Three other MDM-supported productions were also represented in the programme of this year's Sarajevo Film Festival: Maysoon Pachi's drama "Another Day in Baghdad" ("Our River...Our Sky") celebrated its world premiere in the Dealing with the Past section. Kornél Mundruczó's episodic drama "Evolution" was shown in the In Focus series, Vincent Cardona's coming-of-age film "Magnetic Beats" in the Kinoscope section.

Furthermore, the MDM supported the festival's co-production market again this year at the CineLink Industry Days, of which it has been a partner since 2005.