Max Ophüls Prize: Best Film 2019 goes to »Das melancholische Mädchen« (The melancholic girl) directed by Susanne Heinrich, Solitude fellow 2012

We are happy for the former Solitude fellow, director and writer Susanne Heinrich, who has received the Max Ophüls Prize for Best Film. »Das melancholische Mädchen« is her first feature film. Besides the main prize of the festival, she also received the prize of the oecumenic jury for the amount of 2.500 Euro.

The jury praises the film for its buoyant and elegant tone as well as for its precise analytical words and pastel-colored meticulously designed images. The story narrates the odyssey of a young woman who finds herself in between postmodern culture and identity abundance. Combined with ironic accuracy and humorous ready-wit, the film with its embedded translation of feminist theory continuously hits the nail on the head. According to the jury, the film succeeds in finding a language for a whole generation of sad girls. Jury members are Mechthild Holter, Andreas Kleinert, Britta Knöller, Lisa Miller und Friedrich Mücke.

In order to honor director Max Ophüls’ accomplishments, who originally comes from Saarbrücken, the film festival together with the city of Saarbrücken annually awards the Max Ophüls Prize for Best Film. The award honors and promotes young directors of the German-speaking area. The Max Ophüls Prize 2019 is endowed with 36.000 Euro, granted by a five-member jury, and goes to a German premiere.

Susanne Heinrich is born in 1985 in Oschatz/Germany and spent her school years in Leipzig/Germany. She studied at the German Institute for Literature in Leipzig and published four books, among others the story collection »In den Farben der Nacht« and the novel »So, jetzt sind wir mal alle glücklich«. Besides a fellowship at Villa Massimo in 2011 and at Akademie Schloss Solitude in 2012, she received many other prizes and fellowships.

Susanne Heinrich lives in Berlin.

www.susanneheinrich.com

Pressemitteilung Festival Max Ophüls Preis