Prestigious Gold Panda Award for DW documentary

Schumann at Pier2 - a film that showcases a new approach to the symphonies of Robert Schumann - has won a Gold Panda for "Most Innovative" film in the "Anthropology" category at the Sichuan TV Festival, one of the largest and most prominent TV festivals in Asia. Altogether, over 5,000 productions from 77 countries were submitted for the Gold Panda awards this year.

The jury stated: "This film records and shows the beauty of romantic music with inventive scenes. The gorgeous visual tone plus the elegant and rhythmical music will make people bathe in pleasure and feel life's pulse and rhythm."

Filmed at Pier2, a former dockyard in the harbor of Bremen where pop and rock concerts usually take place, the documentary aims to present Schumann's works, interpreted by conductor Paavo Järvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, to a young audience.

"I'm especially pleased that the jury honored our film as 'most innovative,'" commented DW director Christian Berger. "After all, it was our goal from the very beginning to present classical music in a contemporary way."

The Gold Panda is the latest in a string of awards for Schumann at Pier2, which was also nominated as one of the finalists in the "Best Programme" category at the Eutelsat TV Awards in Venice one day before the Sichuan TV Festival. This year it also won the renowned Japan Record Academy Award and was screened as part of the Eugene International Film Festival in the US in November.

With altogether twelve prestigious awards at international film and TV festivals, Schumann at Pier2 is one of the most successful classical music documentaries presented by Deutsche Welle.