Award of the Ecumenical Jury

The Ecumenical Jury awards its prize, carrying a prize money of 1,500 Euros, to the film

Atrophy (or the fear of fading)
by Palesa Shongwe, South Africa 2009

Statement:
Atrophy is a successful combination of dance, poetry, music and documentary. A young South African woman expresses her longing for freedom through a dance that creates a feeling of community and evokes her cultural tradition. At the same time she fears that the space she unfolds through dancing will become more and more constricted due to the conditions of life in the townships. The rhythm of the body creates spaces that resist these growing social limitations.

Members of the Jury:
Manfred Burger (Hamburg), Natalie Resch (Graz, Austria), Werner Schneider-Quindeau (Jury President, Frankfurt/M.), Eberhard Streier (Essen)