Hamburg student film nominated for Oscar

Germany's much-loved "Goodbye, Lenin!" is out of contention for this year's Oscar for best foreign language film — but a relatively unknown student film called "Rote Jacke" ("Red Jacket") by Hamburg filmmaker Florian Baxmeyer has been honored with a nomination in the short film live-action category.

"Rote Jacke" is a 21-minute film that begins with a single German father who loses his son in a violent accident. The only lasting memento of his son is a red jacket that causes him so much pain that he donates it to the Red Cross in war-torn Sarajevo, where a young boy caught in the ravages of war — and clothed with the red jacket — faces his own twist of fate.

Young director Florian Baxmeyer completed the project in 2001 as part of the film studies program at the University of Hamburg.

Last year, Baxmeyer's work was honored with a student Academy Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills.

While a student the program's Hamburg Film Workshop, he also won the university's "Oscar" for best film, several top awards at student film festivals across Europe, as well as Hamburg's film prize for the best up-and-coming filmmaker at a German film school.

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