International Languages Aotearoa New Zealand national
German adviser Bernd Schiephake (left) and Goeth Institut
director Christoph Mucher (right) with John McGlashan
College pupils Joel Labes (left) and Nick Tenci after the
New Zealand Short Film Competition for Students of German
awards ceremony in Wellington recently. Their comedy won
the year 11-13 category of the competition, and the award
for best overall film. Photo supplied.
A "mocumentary" about the life and history of walls, and
a twisted and slightly risque version of a Roald Dahl short
story has given pupils from three Dunedin secondary schools a
clean sweep of awards at the New Zealand Short Film Competition
for Students of German.
With the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall
being celebrated this month, Die Mauer (The Wall) was a
timely theme for the competition.
Pupils could approach the topic from any angle, as long as it
was 1-4 minutes long and in German.
St Hildas Collegiate year 12 pupil Ellena Zellhuber-McMillan
teamed up with John McGlashan year 12 pupils Nick Tenci, Joel
Labes, Hamish MacArthur, Ricky Boebel, Eddy Davis-Rae and
Andrew Wilson to create a short film titled Das Leben der
Mauern - The lives of Walls.
Nick said the film was a comedy which explored the oppression
of walls throughout history.
"They've been peed on, they've been shot . . . you get the
picture.
"The film has been getting a few giggles," he said.
The short film got more than just giggles.
It won the year 11-13 category of the competition, and beat
entries from university students in the award for best
overall film.
Nick said the team was surprised at the result.
"It was great. To beat university students - we weren't
expecting that. We were quite surprised.
"It was the first time we had made a film. Not a bad effort
really. Hopefully, we can do as well again next year."
The year 10 German class from Columba College also had
success in the competition, winning the year 7-10 category
with a film titled Roald Dahl an der Mauer - Couscous.
It was based on Roald Dahl's Mrs Bixby and the Colonel's
Coat from his collection of short stories called Kiss
Kiss.
German teacher Jennes Riethmaier said it was "a twisted and
slightly risque version" of the story in which one of the
main characters - Barbel Schmidt - travels from West Berlin
to visit her aunt Tanja in East Berlin, crossing the Berlin
Wall through the underground station at Friedrichstrasse.
"The back of Bishopscourt made a very good setting for the
Berlin Wall, and various sitting rooms and a BMW provided the
other backdrops.
"The film showed all the processes people had to go through
to cross the wall."
Both teams received awards at a ceremony held in Wellington
on November 6.
The films were shown on a large screen at the National Film
Archive as part of the ceremony.
It was the fourth time the competition had been held by
International Languages Aotearoa New Zealand in association
with the Goethe-Institut, the German Embassy in Wellington,
and German in Aotearoa New Zealand.
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