A cooperation of with Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen in Potsdam (HFF).

Barbara Falkner, a student of scenography at the Film and Television University "Konrad Wolf" (Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen, HFF) is the winner of the "Living Deals" Award 2010. She is awarded for her short film "Spaces of Time" (Zeiträume).

The idea

Aareal Bank AG, headquartered in Wiesbaden, is one of the leading international specialists in commercial property financing. Our financings give rise to office complexes, hotels, logistics centres and shopping malls. The project, part of what is planned to be the long-term series "Living Deals", breathes life into these newly-created business and living spaces on film.

With the annual award of the prizes, Aareal Bank and the Film and Television University (Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen, HFF) "Konrad Wolf" aim at giving students the possibility to turn creative and innovative ideas into something real and to try out the practicability of a production as a cooperation between the creative industry and a private company.

The winning film of the year will be shown as a media artwork at Aareal Bank Group's domestic and international locations and at the same time as a cultural element spanning the globe and the Group.

The challenge

Every year, HFF students are called upon to take part in a creative competition to develop concepts for staging a given building - chosen on an international level - with sophisticated architecture on film.

This time, the task was to breathe life into the "David Morgan Arcade", a well-known historical shopping arcade in Cardiff, Wales, that has been financed by Aareal Bank.

An expert jury assessed the entries and gave awards to the three best films. Criteria for assessing the storyboards were the creative approach of the filmic realisation; demonstration of new perspectives on the building and its architecture and a solid implementation concept within the given budget. Aareal Bank is providing a total of EUR 12,000 for the realisation of the selected film.

The winning film

The winning film "Spaces of time" (Zeiträume) invites the audience to embark on a journey through time in the modern and lively city of Cardiff, covering one day from sunrise to sunset. Embedded in this urban context, the film outlines one day in the arcade and highlights a number of architecturally interesting details in the long-established "David Morgan Arcade".

State-of-the-art lens technology captures visual impressions which are impressively displayed using the tilt-shift miniature faking effect. The perfect arrangement of long shots and architectural details in connection with rapid movement creates a modern and active view, which does not prevent the audience to find the well-known and to have an eye for details. The film is perfected by its musical background.

The winner

Barbara Falkner was born on 5 October 1976 in Nuremberg. During her interior design studies, she served internships with the Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin and set design workshops in Nuremberg theatres, followed by a term spent abroad in Barcelona. In parallel, she took over the set design for various short films. Presently, Barbara Falkner is studying "Production design" under Lothar Holler at the HFF.

Her performances in the field of scenography were awarded the first prize for her film "A Human Request" (Ein menschliches Anliegen). At this year's Berlinale, her film "Shahada", her final year project, was nominated in the official competition.

Last year, too, Barbara Falkner won against her competitors with her film "Rondo I - Inside Out". She lives and works in Berlin.