This evening (8 February) the 2009 Berlin Today Award is to be presented to this year's winner by the patron of the competition, Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, at a ceremony attended by Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick, jury member Wim Wenders and Kirsten Niehuus, Managing Director of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.

The sixth Berlin Today Award is to go to Supriyo Sen from India for his short film “Wagah”. The subject of the film is an extraordinary ritual at the sole crossing point on the border between India and Pakistan, where every evening the patriotic spectacle of closing the border attracts thousands of cheering onlookers. Federal Minister Steinmeier will read out the jury's summing-up, which concludes that the film “is a compelling manifesto against any barrier that keeps people apart”.

The Berlin Today Award is the Short Film Competition of the Berlinale Talent Campus. To mark the twentieth anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the motto of this year's competition is “My Wall”. Together with the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the Federal Foreign Office is sponsoring the competition with 75,000 euro. For the Berlinale Talent Campus the Federal Foreign Office has provided funding in the order of 60,000 euro.