Writer-director Anne Wild's feature debut My First Miracle (Mein Erstes Wunder) (pictured) has won this year's $38,500 (Euros 36,000) Max Ophuels Prize

The prize, for up-and-coming German language cinema, was awarded at the Max Ophuels Prize Film Festival (January 13-19) in Saarbruecken, Germany.

The story about a friendship between an eleven year old girl and a man in his forties during a seaside holiday on the Baltic Coast is being handled internationally by MDC International and will be released theatrically in Germany by Nighthawks Pictures on May 8.

Meanwhile, the prize for the best newcomer actors were taken by Maria Simon for her performance in Isabelle Stever's Erste Ehe and by David Rott for his role in Marco Kreuzpaintner's debut feature Ganz Und Gar.

The Euros 13,000 Script Award donated by broadcasters Saarlaendischer Rundfunk and ZDF went to Austrian filmmaker Bernd Weirather for Ikarus, while Rolanda Colla received the Special Prize of the Saarland Prime-Minister for his film Oltre Il Confine from Switzerland.

The first edition of the Max Ophuels Prize Film Festival under the new director Boris Penth is expected to have registered more then 20,000 admissions during the festival week.