Namibian film maker, Andy Botelle, was awarded with the “Wild Cinema 2007 Best Film Award” for his production “Okorusu Fluorspar – Progress through Passion” at a glamour filled event held in Windhoek on Wednesday, 4 April. Botelle’s production was one of 11 Namibian films at this year’s Wild Cinema Windhoek International Film Festival in competition for the first ever juror awarded Namibia Film Award. No less than 11 separate awards and close to N$10 000.00 in prize money was awarded to 6 films in competition at the festival.
Hosts, Simon Wilkie, chairperson of the Namibian Filmmakers Asso-ciation, and Anna Shivute, board member of the Film Commission Secretariat of Namibia, both acting judges of this year’s jury, kept the who’s who of the Namibian Film Industry guessing until the end at a suspense-filled red-carpet function held at the stylish NICE restaurant. Emily Brown, head of the media technology department of the Polytechnic of Namibia, and Paul van Schalkwyk, Director of INTV, completed the panel of jurors, faced with the daunting task of awarding the diverse 11 Namibian films.
While not every award necessarily carried a prize money, the Namibia Film Awards serve to recognize the hard work and dedication Namibian film makers put into their production. Wild Cinema Film Festival Director, Irmgard Schreiber, hailed the Namibian Film Awards as a historic moment for the local industry, saying that they would stimulate competition amongst local film makers, which in turn would create a demand for local productions.
Schreiber furthermore described this year’s Windhoek International Film Festival as a success with over 40 films from around the world, Namibia included, screened at 7 different venues all over town, attracting some 4000 festival viewers over the ten day period of the festival.
Mayor of the City of Windhoek and patron of the Wild Cinema Windhoek International Film Festival, Coun-cillor Matheus Shikongo, urged all industry players in his address to the black tie audience at the illustrious function to pledge their support for the Namibian Film Industry as it was one of the most promising building blocks towards achieving Vision 2030.
Tim Hübschle, director of “100 Years Etosha” who palmed in this year’s Audience Choice award sponsored by Radio Kosmos 94.1, said that the awards not only recognize the hard work of Namibian film makers, but also act as an incentive to the Namibian public at large that Namibian films are to be taken seriously. Waldheim Shiluwa, managing director of One Africa TV and sponsor of the Best Film Award, expressed the hope that with the advent of the Namibian Film Awards Namibian audiences can now look forward to not only seeing the Namibian productions on the big screen but also have them transported to the small screens of their television sets.
A substantial part of the other awards and special mentions for creative vision were sponsored by the German production company, Mafilm GmBh, based in Berlin. Alexander Martens, director of Mafilm, who has observed the steady development of the local film industry over the last few years, thanked the Wild Cinema Film Festival Trust for once again organizing not only a professional film festival this year but also for facilitating the means for local films to compete at the highest level.

The 6th Windhoek International Film Festival was sponsored by the FNCC, Mafilm GmBH, The Namibia Filmcommission, the Embassies of Sweden, Finland, Spain and France, The Goethe Centre Windhoek, The Delegation of the Commission of the European Union, the Embassies of Brazil, Indonesia and China, The City of Windhoek, TNT, Ster Kinekor, Printech, Hotel Pension Uhland, NICE Restaurant, Welwitchia Productions and Home HiTech. Wild Cinema’s advertising partners were Advantage McCann, Radio Kosmos, One Africa TV and Informanté.