Documentary Film Hunger Nominated for Adolf Grimme Prize

The film 'Hunger', created by documentary filmmaker Marcus Vetter as writer and director and journalist Karin Steinberger writing script, was nominated on 26 January for the Grimme Prize in the category 'Information and Culture'. It depicts the struggle of individuals, groups and organisations working to solve one of the most severe social, political and economic problems of our time. Vetter and Steinberger travelled to Kenya, India, Mauretania, Brazil and Haiti to gather material. In the film, people whose daily life is dominated by hunger and the struggle to survive have a chance to speak their minds. Among the topics covered are agro-biodiversity, EU fisheries policy, the lack of access to water, prioritisation of animal fodder production over food crop cultivation, and the impacts of cheap imports on developing countries.

 

The 90-minute documentary was first broadcast on 25 October 2010 as part of the theme week Essen ist Leben ('Food is Life') on the German television channel ARD. SWR (Südwestrundfunk – Southwest Broadcasting) commissioned Eikon Südwest with the film's production. Marcus Vetter has been awarded the Adolf Grimme Prize twice in past years, and won the German Film Award for 'Heart of Jenin' in 2010.

 

DED and GTZ (GIZ as of January 2011) and other development cooperation partners have produced an educational / informational DVD about 'Hunger'. In addition to material from the film itself, the DVD contains comprehensive (media-) instructional material about the countries and key issues in the film. The texts and videos examine the causes and effects of hunger in depth and use examples to illustrate the contribution successful development cooperation makes to combating hunger. The interconnections and complexities of the issue are also explored. The material is suitable for use both in schools and in educational work outside of schools. For those wishing to carry out further work in this area, references to additional literature and media productions plus the contact data of experts at the partner organisations are provided.

 

The DVD (in German only) may be acquired from the SWR shop: a deposit of EUR 10 applies.

 

The award ceremony for the 47th Adolf Grimme Prize is to take place on 1 April 2011 in Marl. The Grimme Prize is given to television programmes that are models of good broadcasting practice.