NDR sponsorship award goes to "Raju"

The winning series is based on the short filmRajuDirectors Max Zähle and Executive Producer Stefan Gieren were honoured with a Bronze Student Oscar in 2011. In 2012, "Raju" was nominated for a short film Oscar. Co-producer is Tobias Rosen from Warner Bros., who has already produced the Oscar-nominated short film "Watu Wote" and the "Lola" winner "Rocca changes the world".

The six-part mini-series "Raju" tells a touching and harrowing story about a failed adoption: a German couple travels to Calcutta to adopt an Indian orphan. When the child disappears, the couple suddenly find themselves caught up in the maelstrom of illegal child trafficking.

The jury statement says: "'Raju' poses the often-discussed question 'How far would you go for your own child?' and thus successfully addresses the more fundamental question of whose moral standards can be applied here. - Can one society dictate to another what is right and what is wrong? If a story can raise awareness of social ills and contribute to their change, 'Raju' has a good chance of doing this in a dramatic and convincing way."

The "Albatross" was awarded on 19 June as part of the "Series Lab Hamburg".

Members of the "Albatross" jury were actress Franziska Weisz (Federal Police Commissioner Julia Grosz in NDR's "Tatort" from northern Germany), British script expert Claire Armspach (Head of Drama Development at STV Productions) and Christian Granderath, Head of NDR's Film, Family and Series Department.

In 2017, the Belgian-German project "GR5" won the NDR Förderpreis. The series is currently in production. Executive Producers are: Serge Bierset (Zodiak Belgium, Lint near Antwerp) and Dorothe Beinemeier (Red Balloon Film, Hamburg). Partners are the broadcasters VRT and ZDFneo.

At the "Series Lab Hamburg", producers of television series from all over Europe meet with Executive Producers from Hamburg and can present projects for European co-productions that they are currently developing to international financiers, including film funds, global distributors and broadcasters such as NDR. The meeting is a co-operation between the Creative Europe Desk Hamburg, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein and Letterbox Filmproduktion.

Photo: Catrin-Anja Eichinger