Yesterday evening (October 11th) in Berlin, the bilingual Ö1 “radio play” “Blasse Hours/Blijedi sati” by Manuela Tomic was awarded the “Prix Europa IRIS 2024” for the best media project of the year on the topic of identity, diversity and inclusion. Ö1 will repeat the award-winning work on Saturday, October 19th from 2 p.m.
A week ago, the Ö1 “radio play” “Blasse Hours/Blijedi sati” was awarded the renowned “Prix Italia” in the “Drama” category – last night the play was also awarded the “Prix Europa IRIS 2024”. This year, for the first time, productions from all categories were able to apply for this award: audio, video & online. The “Prix Europa IRIS” for the best European media project of the year on the topic of identity, diversity and inclusion is awarded by a special jury made up of diversity experts. This special award is under the patronage of NTR – Dutch public broadcaster.
The bilingual radio play “Blasse Hours/Blijedi sati” (German/Serbo-Croatian) is the autobiographical story of the author Manuela Tomic, who was born in Sarajevo in 1988 and had to flee the Bosnian War with her family as a child. The ORF production from 2023 stars Marie-Luise Stockinger (Mira), Ljubiša Lupo Grujčić (father), Sandy Lopičić (Dedo Ivo), Ana Stefanovic Bilic (mother) and Luka Vlatković (gas station attendant), directed by Andreas Jungwirth .
In “Pale Hours”, the protagonist Mira, embodied by actress Marie-Luise Stockinger, who fled the Bosnian War with her family as a child, has to return to Bosnia, her “foreign” homeland, for the funeral of her grandfather Ivo. At night she gets into the car with her family in southern Carinthia. Memories of life before the war, the escape and stories about arriving in a foreign country are discussed both in microsleep and in awake reflections. The war and the trauma associated with it place a particular strain on the father – he seems lost, torn in two. And his car doesn’t just drive to the funeral, it drives through time and the white lines of the road become life lines.
The “Prix Europa” honors the best European media productions every year. It is supported by an alliance of currently 22 European broadcasters. Since its founding in 1987, it has developed into a pan-European platform for quality journalism that promotes cohesion and European coexistence.
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