18 February 2007

Film Festival in Berlin:
10 to 18 February 2007

In 2007 the International Auschwitz Committee was again involved in the presentation of the 22^nd Film Award for Peace within the framework of the Berlin Film Festival "Berlinale": The jury for the Film Award for Peace consisted of seven members, among them Christoph Heubner representing the IAC.

The award was conferred to the film "Goodbye Bafana" by Danish film director Bille August. The explanation given by the jury reads as follows:

"The prison warder James Gregory, born into the apartheid system which he supports as reasonable and willed by God, is striving for middle-class security for his family and progress in his career. He is convinced of the cruelty of the black people and their intention to drive the white population out of South Africa. When a new task is given to him and he has to work as a censor, he is suddenly confronted with Nelson Mandela and his fellow prisoners detained in the notorious prison of Robben Island.

"James Gregory is impressed by Mandela's thoughts and ideas and his humanitarian character on the one hand and shocked by the daily brutality and violence faced by the prisoners, on the other. Thus, step by step, a process of change starts in his head and his heart which even leads to an existential challenge for him and his family.

"A film based on a true story which shows that even in the most rigid system and under great pressure it is possible to stand up for one's convictions and to change from a former accomplice of the system into an independently acting and thinking person: a real encouragement."

At the film festival special attention was given to the film “The counterfeiters” based on the book by Auschwitz survivor Adolf Burger (The Devil’s Workshop. The counterfeiters’ workshop in the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp).

Adolf Burger gave an interview on the occasion of the meeting of the IAC Presidium in Berlin, in November 2006.

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