Berlinale: Audience Award for Swiss film

Double victory for Swiss production: The 16th Panorama Audience Award of the 64th Berlinale goes to the Swiss film "The circle" by Stefan Haupt, produced by Contrast Film Zurich. The largest independent jury at the Berlinale - the audience - chose the Swiss docu-fiction "Der Kreis" from the 16 competing films in the Dokumente series. This is the very first time that this audience award has gone to Switzerland. Another record: The Circle is the first film in the history of the festival to win both the Audience Award and the Teddy Award at a Berlinale.

"Der Kreis" is set in the Zurich gay movement of the post-war period. It centers on the true love story of Röbi Rapp (Sven Schelker) and Ernst Ostertag (Matthias Hungerbühler), who met and fell in love in the environment of the trilingual gay magazine "Der Kreis - Le Cercle - The Circle".

"We are delighted that - especially in the current situation - a film with this theme has been so well received by the audience. On behalf of the entire film team, we would like to thank the Berlinale audience for this," said director Stefan Haupt and producer Ivan Madeo about the award.

For ten days, Berlinale visitors were able to rate a total of 52 feature-length films in the Panorama section, including 16 in the Panorama Dokumente series, on a scale from "Outstanding" to "Annoying" using voting cards in the cinemas and on the Internet. Over 31,000 viewers took part this year, making it the largest independent jury at the Berlinale.

On Saturday, "The Circle" was presented with the Berlinale Teddy Award in the "Best Documentary/Essay Film" category at a festive gala. Director Stefan Haupt, producers Ivan Madeo and Urs Frey, the two contemporary witnesses Ernst Ostertag and Röbi Rapp and the two main actors Matthias Hungerbühler and Sven Schelker accepted the award in person in Berlin from Mitra Farahani, member of the International Jury of the 64th Berlinale.

"The Circle" will be released in cinemas in Germany and Switzerland in the fall. The distribution rights to the USA, Canada and Poland were sold as part of the European Film Market at the Berlinale, and great interest was reported from France, the UK and Italy.