World premieres of Oliver Rihs' Brombeerchen, Zueli Aladag's Elefantenherz and Almut Getto's Fickende Fische are among the 18 films by up-and-coming German-language filmmakers selected for the official competition of the Max Ophuels Prize Film Festival in Saarbruecken (January 22-27, 2002).

For the 2002 edition, 14 of the competition films are either world premieres (WP) or German premieres (GP) by promising young talents from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Those German films receiving their world premieres at the festival will be hoping to be selected for the Berlin Film Festival's new sidebar "Perspectives of German Cinema" and gain exposure to a wider international audience.

The complete line-up is as follows:

Brombeerchen - Oliver Rihs (Switzerland, WP)
Bungalow - Ulrich Koehler (Germany, WP)
Elefantenherz - Zueli Aladag (Germany, WP)
Endstation: Tanke - Nathalie Steinbart (Germany)
Escape To Paradise - Nino Jacusso (Switzerland, GP)
Fickende Fische - Almut Getto (Germany, WP)
Die Frau, Die An Dr. Fabian Zweifelte - Andi Rogenhagen (Germany, WP)
Happiness Is A Warm Gun - Thomas Imbach (Switzerland, GP)
Lovely Rita - Jessica Hausner (Austria)
Mein Bruder Der Vampir - Sven Taddicken (Germany)
Mein Russland - Barbara Graftner (Austria, WP)
Nicht Fisch, Nicht Fleisch - Matthias Keilich (Germany, WP)
Richtung Zukunft Durch Die Nacht - Joerg Kalt (Austria, WP)
Storno - Elke Weber-Moore (Germany, WP)
Thelma - Alain-Pierre Meyer (Switzerland)
Utopia Blues - Stefan Haupt (Switzerland, GP)
Vollgas - Sabine Derflinger (Austria, WP)
Zwischen Den Sternen - Seyhan Derin (Germany, WP)

In addition, a short film competition with twenty nominated films, and more new German language features and documentaries will be shown in the "Perspectives of German Language Cinema" sidebar, while the programme of "Saarbruecken Premieres" will offer avant-premieres of German and international titles, with the focus on young French cinema.