Communications and Marketing
Film festival at H-BRS: Award-winning contributions from students


From analogue photography about corals in distress to plasma cutting: The 2024 film festival at H-BRS presented itself more thematically diverse than ever before. And there have never been as many entries as in this fourth assignment of the film festival, which the jury had to view and evaluate. 22 students submitted 16 films, which not only addressed a wide variety of topics, but also represented a broad spectrum of genres and styles. These included explanatory videos as well as image films, talk programmes and works with complex computer animations. The films were conceived and produced by students on the media degree programmes in Technical Journalism and Visual Technical Communication. Not only students from the higher semesters took part in the competition, but also those from the first semester.
The works submitted were awarded prizes in the categories of knowledge transfer, dramaturgy and storytelling, visualisation, editing and montage as well as moderation. A jury consisting of Professor Johannes Geilen, Sabine Fricke, Head of the H-BRS film studio, and Esther Hummel from the film editorial department of the Communications and Marketing staff unit, decided on the first and second places in each category. H-BRS graduate Meike Seibert, who works as an editor and author at ZDF and is responsible for the science programme "Leschs Kosmos", among others, was also invited to be a member of the jury. At the end of the evening, nine awards were presented, five first places and four second places. Festival organiser Sabine Fricke was delighted with the variety and quality of the films:
"The film festival has developed fantastically. The films submitted are a wonderful reflection of the work, range and calibre of the students in the media subjects Technical Journalism and Visual Technical Journalism at Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg. Anyone who watches the films knows what is taught in moving image communication at H-BRS."
The festival entries were conceived, shot, edited and set to music by students, mostly in small groups. The films were developed according to an assignment that read, for example: "Create a magazine article on a technical topic - present a craft or voluntary work related to technology".
Frida Lemm, Sarah Probst and Astrid Senger took on this task and made a short film about the Sankt Augustin Volunteer Fire Brigade. The protagonist is student Jan Iso Kohrs, who describes very impressively how his voluntary work fulfils him and at the same time challenges him physically and mentally. With its empathetic narrative, well thought-out camera work and clever editing, the video will leave a lasting impression. The jury agreed and awarded first place in the "Dramaturgy and Storytelling" category.

Ole Schliebaum chose a different topic and a different approach who was able to explain the seemingly unwieldy topic of plasma cutting very clearly using a rather calm visual language. The well-deserved award for this contribution: first place in the "Knowledge Communication" category.
The students demonstrated their talent not only behind the camera, but also in front of it. In the "Presentation" category, the jury awarded first place to Leonie Welters and second place to Simon Rodig. Leonie Welters, a student of Visual Technical Communication, found out what the newsroom of the future could look like in an episode of Cappuccino Talk. Her dialogue partner was Leonhard Ottinger, Managing Director of the RTL School of Journalism. For technology journalism student Simon Rodig, the role of presenter was a first. Nevertheless, he ventured into a comparatively long programme and uncovered a lot of interesting facts about the "rainforests of the oceans" in conversation with coral researcher Jonathan Jung from the Max Planck Institute in Mainz.
The camera is rolling: The next assignment of the film festival has already been scheduled. The best films of the year will be honoured again in December. Animations and Instagram clips also have the best chances. Submissions are possible until November.
The award winners
Contact us

Dipl.-Ing. agr. Sabine Fricke
Director Audio- and Video-Studios/Teacher for Technical Journalism and Visual Technical Communication
Location
Sankt Augustin
Room
B 255
Address
Grantham-Allee 20
53757 Sankt Augustin
Telephone
+49 2241 865 321