The actress Corinna Harfouch received the honorary award at the 32nd Filmkunstfest Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Each of her roles is “a Corinna Harfouch role in which one always immediately recognizes her personal charisma as an actress,” said patron and Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Manuela Schwesig (SPD), at the award ceremony on Saturday evening. She received the Golden Ox for her “outstanding contribution to German-speaking film and acting”.
The main prize of the festival, worth 10,000 euros – the Flying Ox – was won by the Austrian love film “Stars under the City” by director Chris Raiber. Leading actress Verena Altenberger also received the award for the best performance in the competition. “Verena Altenberger always revives her Caro with ease, despite all the heaviness and sadness,” said the jury.
Other categories included director Max Gleschinski for the film “Alaska” and Helmut Köpping and Michael Ostrowski for the film “Der Onkel”. The young talent award went to actress Mareike Beykirch for her role in the film “Schlamassel”. The audience chose the film “Adiós Buenos Aires” by German Kral. Overall, according to the information, prizes were awarded in 13 categories.
As she had already established at noon, honorary award winner Harfouch would in principle slip into any role. This “unlimited yes” to every role, no matter how ghastly the person portrayed may be, is an occupational disease, she said. The theater and television actress made one restriction: the role had to have a certain quality as a basic condition. “My big no has to be quality”. Harfouch, who was born in Suhl, was seen, among other things, as Magda Goebbels in the feature film “Der Untergang” about the last days of Hitler’s dictatorship. She also plays the inspector Susanne Bonard in Berlin’s “Tatort”.
Harfouch, who was born in 1954, describes her career as an improbable coincidence. She was lucky to have been treated with respect at the beginning of her career – at that time mainly as a theater actress. She said television tended to put her off after her first film. Later she had to be persuaded to step in front of the camera again. Regarding her current situation, she says: “I’m incredibly well at the moment, I’m incredibly lucky, I can really only thank fate”.
For the future, Harfouch wishes to be able to keep learning. This also includes bringing aging into your acting and not shamefully hiding it behind masks.
In the evening, patron Schwesig thanked the organizing team around artistic director Volker Kufahl for their commitment. “And a very special thank you to the loyal audience. The 32nd Filmkunstfest was a complete success!”
