French producers Jean-Philippe Andraca and Christian Berard of Paris-based Les Films A4 have received the Euros 25,000 High Hopes Award, donated by the German collection society GWFF, for their production of Robert Kechichian's feature debut Aram, which was co-produced with StudioCanal and BAC Films.

In its decision, the jury of distribution expert Veronika Morawetz, producer Norbert Preuss and KirchMedia's feature film division head Philipp Riccabona expressed its admiration for "the courage of the producers to entrust a first-time director with a politically topical and explosive subject which is linked with a tragic family story."

Kechichian started his career in the film industry as an actor before becoming an assistant director and second unit director on such films as Alain Chabat's Didier (1997), Gerard Krawczyk's Taxi 2 (2000) and Chabat's Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (2002).

The High Hopes Award is open to all of those films by first-time directors showing in the World Cinema and American Independents sections of the Munich Film Festival and aims to support the commitment of international producers for up-and-coming filmmakers.