THE WINNERS OF THE DANUBE SO BLUE AWARD
THE WINNERS OF THE DANUBE SO BLUE AWARD
The Danube So Blue (Donau so blau) competition, launched in conjunction with the Johann Strauss 2025 Vienna anniversary year and seeking modern cinematic interpretations of the Blue Danube Waltz, found a worthy winner in the German film Ich paddel mit dem Kanu 3 Meter unter der Zivilisation (I Paddle My Canoe 3 Meters Below Civilization) by Michel Klöfkorn. The wild, free-flowing and socially critical animation was awarded the grand prize of €6,000 by the five-member jury.
Out of more than 200 submissions from around the world, nine films were selected in advance to be publicly screened for the first time during a gala event, where the winners were also announced.
The jury – consisting of curator Florian Widegger, editor Julia Drack, musicologist Julia Heimerdinger, journalist Gerald Heidegger, and actor/director Karl Markovics – awarded the second prize (€3,000) to the hot Albanian bodybuilding extravaganzaSommerkaiser (Summer Emperors) by Renato Balla, and the third prize (€1,200) to the breezy plastic bag waltzSac en Plastique by Austrian artist Stefanie Weberhofer.
News 1.6.2025