"There is, unfortunately, a circumstance that is a cause for concern: people are reading less than they used to. The fact that only a screenplay can get a society interested in a true story is sad enough, but apparently it's necessary. This is an important German story that describes the authoritarian regime of the East German state in a way that is shocking and unnerving. The disturbing truth that the death penalty was applied in East Germany until the mid-1980s was, I believe, not widely known. Coming to terms with our shared history also involves making the unheard, the unspoken, the unseen and the repressed audible and visible. For this reason, we, the jury, have decided: The German Cinema New Talent Award for best screenplay goes to THE LAST EXECUTION by Franziska Stünkel."
