The Scorpions, the most successful German rock band of all time, announced in 2010 that they were going to leave the stage forever and wanted to go out loud with a three-year international farewell tour. But somewhere along the way, the magic of rock and roll inspired them to keep going and they are celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2015 with a new album, a world tour and the release of a documentary film co-produced by DW. Directed by Katja von Garnier, Forever and a Day is a must-see for any Scorpions fan. It follows the band on their farewell tour and delivers an intimate portrayal of the musical passion which has sustained them for 50 years. The film premiered on February 7 in Berlin and will be released in Germany on March 26 with international release dates to follow. The film is sure to become another one of DW’s acclaimed musical productions like The Highest Level, with Chinese Pianist Lang Lang or The Beethoven Project, featuring star composer Paavo Järvi. Work on the film began in 2011 and von Garnier used her expert sensitivity and insight to find meaning behind the music. Besides chronicling the challenges and triumphs of the three-year tour, Forever and a Day also reveals secrets of the Scorpion’s history, including never-before-seen footage of super 8 films from the band’s archive. The show must go on and after being inspired by audiences from Thailand to the USA, the Scorpions are going back on tour in 2015, with Forever and a Day being shown in theaters at every stop along the way. After the German release at the end of March, the film will be broadcast worldwide on DW in English, German, Spanish and Arabic. A DVD will also be released.  DW partners on the project were the distribution company Tempest Film, producers DOKfilm ,  German broadcasters ZDF and Arte, Nordmeida Film Promotion and the German Federal Film Board, FFA.

Two DW productions won three prizes at the 16^th international Eyes and Ears Awards last week in Munich.

DW’s musical documentary, The Highest Level, which takes audiences behind the scenes at the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, won two awards: A first prize in the category, “Creation, innovation and effectiveness” and a third prize in the “Best program related audio design” category.  The promotion for Germany by scooter won second prize in the category “On-air program campaign: information.”

A total of 127 prizes in 46 categories were awarded for outstanding design, promotion and marketing of audiovisual media at the conference, which was held as a part of Mediatage München, one of Europe’s largest media conferences.

A diverse selection of DW documentaries, specials and series won numerous awards at the 15^th World Media Festival in Hamburg this past week. Organized by Intermedia, this year’s festival drew 700 entries from 35 countries.

Winning a gold intermedia-globe in the documentary-magazine format category was PopXport Special, a 10-part production from DW’s popular music show that showcases some of Germany’s most successful recording artists. The Global Ideas web-documentary, Serengeti- Toward an uncertain future, won a gold award in the E-Learning and Education category and the 10-part series, Tracing the past: German-Jewish cultural heritage,  won gold in the Documentaries-Other category. The 28-part Euromaxx series, Europe 28 , which takes a look at all 28 capital cities of the EU,  won a gold award in the documentaries-destinations category as did the music documentary, The Highest Level , in the documentaries-arts category.

Winning a silver intermedia-globe award was the music documentary, The Colón Ring- Wagner in Buenos Aires, in the Documentaries-Arts category and a production from Kino- The German Film Magazine  that explores German film in Brazil and the relationship between the two countries won silver in the documentaries-magazine format category. A report from People and Politics was also awarded silver in the News-Documentary category. It tells the story of children who were abducted by the Nazis in Eastern Europe who as adults are searching for their roots.

The performance at the 2014 World Media Festival in Hamburg comes a few weeks after many DW productions won awards at festivals in Las Vegas and Houston.