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Michael Ballhaus to open NIHRFF 2011

 

Michael Ballhaus has been nominated three times for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography - on Sep 28 he will open NIHRFF 7 as this year's festival patron and recipient of NIHRFF's Lifetime Achievement Award. The festival is also proud to announce the presence of an impressive range of filmmakers from around the world, including Denmark's Anders Østergaard, himself an Oscar nominee in 2010 with Burma VJ and Chinese filmmaker Zhao Liang who won NIHRFF's International Jury Award in 2009 with Crime and Punishment.

He was Martin Scorsese's favourite Director of Photography until he retired from Hollywood in 2007. To date he counts as one of the best DoP's of the past 50 years with an impressive record of collaborations with directors such as Mike Nichols, Francis Ford Coppola, Wolfgang Petersen and Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Born in Berlin and raised in Franconia, Ballhaus is famous for his atmospheric lighting, his elegant, ever fluid camera and the so-called Ballhaus Circle which he invented. Since his return to Germany, he has dedicated himself to train young cinematographers and to fight Global Warming.

„We are very happy," says festival director Andrea Kuhn, " that Mr. Ballhaus will be our patron this year. His filmic oeuvre is really beyond impressive and his additional intense commitment to social and environmental questions has made Mr. Ballhaus our ideal patron. We are immensely proud that he accepted our invitation.“

Anders Østergaard's documentary Burma VJ – Reporting From a Closed Country was one of the surprise hits of the 2008/2009 film festival season. This exciting example of virtuoso camera work and editing honours the brave video reporters who risked their lives to document the so-called saffran revolution in Burma in 2007. The film not only won Østergaard an Academy Award nomination in 2010, but also took both the Audience Award and the Youth Jury Award at NIHRFF 2009. Østergaard will be a member of this year's International Jury.

Zhao Liang is one of China's most interesting filmmakers today. His documentary Crime and Punishment won numerous awards at international film festivals, among others the Nuremberg International Human Rights Film Award at NIHRFF 2009. Back then Zhao Liang couldn't accept the award in person because of tensions with the Chinese government after his next film, Petition, caused controversy at its world premiere during the Cannes Film Festival 2009. Petition, a long-term examination of the Chinese petition system will be screened as part of NIHRFF's International Competition this year and will be presented by Zhao Liang himself.

Zhao Liang is one of many international filmmakers who will come to Nuremberg to present their films at Germany's oldest and biggest human rights film festival. 62 films from 39 countries will be screened at this years edition.

The pedagogically supported school film programme Open Eyes, a vast number of accompanying events and the high-profile photo exhibition J Henry Fair: Toter Erde schöner Schein will also be presented during NIHRFF 2011.

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