Numerous premieres in 7th year of Berlinale PartnershipGlashütte Original looks forward to unique moments on and around the Red Carpet
For Glashütte Original the 67th Berlinale, taking place from the 9th to the 19th of February, will bring not one, but a number of premieres. This year the German watchmaker debuts as Principal Partner of the Berlin International Film Festival, and crowns this 7th year of support for filmmakers with the founding and funding of the Glashütte Original Documentary Award.
Artists, journalists and guests from all parts of the film world will be welcomed to the Golden Bear Lounge by Glashütte Original. In the Lounge and select Glashütte Original retail partners, visitors will encounter as well the new Sixties Iconic Square Collection, to be launched by the watchmaker amid the festive and inspiring atmosphere of the Berlinale.
A milestone for the Festival: Jury to award new documentary film prize
Impressive images, significant subjects, courageous protagonists: this is the art of the documentary film, honoured this year for the first time by Glashütte Original and the Berlinale together. The newly created Glashütte Original Documentary Award is the high point (to date) of the partnership that began in 2011 between the Saxon watch manufactory and the Berlin International Film Festival. The Documentary Award, worth 50,000 euros, will be presented February 18th during the official Berlinale Awards Ceremony in the Berlinale Palast. The jury is comprised of three industry professionals: film critic and festival director Daniela Michel (Mexico); Oscar and Pulitzer prizewinning journalist and filmmaker Laura Poitras (USA); and the winner of numerous honours and awards, director Samir (Iraq/Switzerland).
The jury will select the winner from 16 documentary entries nominated in the Berlinale 2017 sections Competition, Berlinale Special, Panorama, Forum, Generation and Perspektive Deutsches Kino; all films are celebrating their world premiere at the Berlinale. The director and producer of the winning documentary will receive, in addition to the prize money, a trophy made by hand at the Glashütte manufactory. “The award is an important signal to the documentary film industry and represents at the same time a significant appreciation of the filmmakers, who must sometimes put themselves at great personal risk in order to complete their projects,” said Festival Director Dieter Kosslick.
Icons on and around the Red Carpet
For Glashütte Original the new cinematic award is not the only premiere to be celebrated in its 7th year at and in partnership with the Berlinale: the 67th edition of the Festival is the first for which the watchmaker is acting as Principal Partner. „As watchmakers and filmmakers we are connected by passion, precision, technical sophistication and our sense of beauty and aesthetics,” said Thomas Meier, CEO, Glashütte Original. „We take pride in celebrating all of this together with the Berlin International Film Festival, as we have done every year since 2011. It was important to us to expand this exceptional collaboration, and now as Principal Partner we look forward to enhancing the Berlinale with a number of exclusive facets.”
The protagonist this year is the Sixties Iconic Square Collection – a colourful special collection that Glashütte Original will launch during the Festival. The timepieces take up design elements from a very special era and are sure to spark iconic moments on and around the Red Carpet. The collection will be on show in the Golden Bear Lounge, where the Saxon manufactory is to celebrate its premiere as host for the film world and all its illustrious and prominent representatives. It will be an honour as well for the manufactory to grace the wrist of a silver-screen legend or two with an excellent Original from Glashütte.
Whether in the festive celebrations in and around the Berlinale Palast, in the Golden Bear Lounge or at numerous events in the film capital Berlin: at the 67th Berlinale Glashütte Original will create, more than ever, an atmosphere that unites in an authentic way the glamour of the dazzling Festival and the elegance of a watch brand rich in tradition.