The Werkleitz Award 2006 was awarded at the 22. International Short Film Festival Hamburg to Richard Penna from London for his debutfilm "At Night".
"At Night" shows alienated images of people lying almost glazed on corridor floors creating a dense atmosphere through the mix of a sensitive observative photography and virtuos postproduction .
In an haunting manner the music by Geir Jenssen supports the dark atmosphere which leads to a couple of associations or interpretations which are leftopen to the viewer.
Each year, the Werkleitz Gesellschaft in cooperation with an internationally renowned Media or Film / Video Festival sponsors the 'Werkleitz Award' for outstanding works of media art which deal critically with social processes. In 2001, the prize was awarded for the first time. The cooperating partner then was the 18th Kasseler Dokumentarfilm- und Videofest. In 2002, the prize was awarded in cooperation with the 48th Internationalen Kurzfilmtagen Oberhausen, in 2003 together with the European Media Art Festival Osnabrück, in 2004 together with the transmediale.04, international media art festival berlin. The cooperating partner for the 'Werkleitz Award 2005' was the 7th backup festival in Weimar. In 2006, the partner was the 22nd Short Film Festival Hamburg, which took place from May 31st until June 5th.
The 'Werkleitz Award' includes a stipend of 2,000 EUR and provides the opportunity to use equipment of the media lab worth up to 3,000 EUR. Furthermore, award winners receive personnel and logistical support and may participate free of charge in a relevant workshop.
The results of the production process will be shown at events organised by the Werkleitz Gesellschaft.
Previous Award winners were:
| 2005 | Cecilia Lundqvist (Sweden) |
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| 2004 | François Bucher (New York/Berlin) |
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| 2003 | Marc Comes (Köln) |
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| 2002 | Zapruder Filmmakersgroup (Florenz) |
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| 2001 | Florian Thalhofer (Berlin) |
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