2016
Oldenburg was wild at heart as icon and global superstar, Nicolas Cage, arrived as the 2016 Tribute Honoree and recipient of the tenth ‘Star of Excellence’ on the OLB Walk of Fame. Fellow Tribute Honoree, lauded actress Amanda Plummer , also delighted audiences as the offspring of cinema royalty thrilled the crowded theatres. And returning to Oldenburg where he presented his debut feature in 2002, France’s child of Nouvelle Vague, Christophe Honoré, was honored with the 2016 Honorary Retrospective Award.
In keeping with its »heart for young filmmakers« (as described by Agnieszka Holland), the world premiere of Benjamin Teske’s debut feature »Strawberry Bubblegums« opened the Festival. The Opening Night Gala film touched the hearts of more than a thousand audience members at the EWE Arena, and earned the lead actor, Andre Hennicke, the ‘Seymour Cassel Award’ for ‘Best Actor’. And young French actress, Noémie Merlant, who attended Oldenburg in 2011 to present her first starring role in a feature film, returned with »Twisting Fate« - for which she won the ‘Seymour Cassel Award’ for ‘Best Actress’.
Debut films from Turkey dominated the Closing Night Awards Ceremony, as Emre Konuk’s »The Apprentice« won the German Independence Award for ‘Best Film’ and Ruken Tekes’ »The Circle« won for ‘Best Short’.
Trailer
The Opening. In 2016 the festival presented a trailer that transported one of the most famous scenes from Stanley Kubrick’s classic »The Shining« to Oldenburg. The lead, played by German actress Leni Wesselman who attended the festival in 2009 with her cinematic debut »Mine«, directed by Detlef Bothe and who had recently won a best actress award at the film festival in Nis for the German/Serbian coproduction »Open Cage«. Cinematography by Irina Dragojevic, editing by Tom Bewilogua and the team of Deborah Kara Unger and Torsten Neumann as directors. The post production was supported by Kinematograph 24/7, Berliner Synchron and trickWILK Niedersachsen, with Berlin-based 25p Cine Support GmbH helping during physical production for the first time.