AND THE STUDENT OSCAR GOES TO...

Munich/Beverly Hills. After the success of Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck,
with his drama "The Lives of Others", also supported by the BMW Group, yet
another German director has been presented with an award. Within the Student
Academy Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences selected the
young director Toke Constantin Hebbeln from the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy
as the winner of the 34th Honorary Foreign Film Award for his fairy-tale drama
"Nimmermeer". He was presented with the prize in the category of Best Foreign
Film. Altogether, five competitors made it to the final round, including four
from Germany. The "Student Oscar" was presented to Hebbeln in Los Angeles at
the weekend.

The fairy-tale drama Nimmermeer.
In "Nimmermeer", Hebbeln tells a fairy-tale story about growing up and the
power of dreams. The drama takes place in the past, and tells the story of the
nine-year-old Jonas, who is given into the care of Pastor Ekdahl after the
death of his father. Only when he meets the travelling entertainer Grido does
Jonas learn to dream, to laugh and to leave the bitter past behind him. The
director has already received a number of prizes for the 60-minute production.
After achieving double success at the 4th Hof Film Festival, the "Best Foreign
Drama Award" at the Hollywood International Student Film Festival and the
producers' prize at the Sehsüchte Student Festival, the Academy's nomination is
a further honour.

Young director Toke Constantin Hebbeln
The 28-year-old student of the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy and participant
in the Masterclass Program at UCLA in Los Angeles has already been the focus of
attention a few times. His first film, "Der ewige Tag", from 2002, received a
number of awards, including the 2004 Hans Hoch Film Prize. His short film "Der
Knaller" received the Art-On-Kunstförderpreis 2003 in Frankfurt.

BMW and support for up-and-coming film makers.
The BMW Group has been involved for many years in the realisation of student
films made in film colleges, technical universities and film academies. BMW
sees itself as a supporter of up-and-coming film makers, is interested in
particularly outstanding projects and works closely with the students. Its
support of scenic graduation and début films has led to the BMW Group's
involvement, for example, with "Das Maß der Dinge" by Sven Bohse, which was
nominated for the Student Oscar in 2006, and "The Lives of Others", by Florian
Henckel von Donnersmarck from the College of Television and Film in Munich,
which received the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 2007.