Awards & Winners

German Cinema New Talent Award

The German Cinema New Talent Award is sponsored by DZ Bank, Bavaria Film and Bayerischer Rundfunk. It carries a total purse of 70 000 Euros and goes to the best newcomers in the New German Cinema section in the categories of Director, Producer, Screenwriter and Actor

German Cinema New Talent Award 2018

Award winners

Jonas Weydemann (Production IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RIVER), Diana Iljine, Eva Trobisch & Aenne Schwarz (ALLES IST GUT), Anna De Paoli & Linus De Paoli (A YOUNG MAN WITH HIGH POTENTIAL)

Best Director
Eva Trobisch – ALLES IST GUT

Jury statement: All of us are told as children to "pull ourselves together". In my case, this pulling myself together determined the entire rest of my life. And when I saw this film, I was able to understand or see for the first time how toxic it is when someone pulls herself together: it's toxic to the people around me, pulling them into the abyss as well. The film "All Good" shows this in such a subtle and intelligent way that I can only be grateful for the fact that someone had the courage and the strength to tell a story this way and exactly this way — not the way the financial backers would like, nor the way that morality or decency or entertainment would demand. This person is a woman, and her name is Eva Trobisch. She has helped me to become a little bit more of the person I am underneath. We can make films that entertain people; we can make films that show that we can make films; and occasionally someone comes along and makes a film that wants to make a difference!

Best Producer
Anna de Paoli – A YOUNG MAN WITH HIGH POTENTIAL

Jury statement: Producing a film is like an Olympic decathlon: acquiring material, developing a screenplay, financing, budgeting, packaging, shooting, cutting, post-production, cost control, release. For many of these disciplines, there are specialists who are often found at large media conglomerates and who jointly carry out the most diverse tasks of film production as a team. At truly independent production companies, one instead tends to find these decathletes and Olympians who have dedicated themselves through and through to producing films. Perhaps the most important quality in this is not always apparent. Often it lurks in the shadows and only seldom reaches the spotlight: the integrity that's comprised of the courage to take risks and a loyalty to cinema and to those who make it. Anna de Paoli is just such a decathlete who in the past few years has dedicated her efforts to producing the European film "A Young Man with High Potential" by Linus de Paoli without the usual safety net of network television subsidies. The result is a film that, in its storytelling and quality, measures up to modern international standards and that gives New German Cinema exemplary prospects for future productions. Anna de Paoli is a young producer with "high potential". We hereby present her the 2018 award for best production!

Best Screenplay
Damian John Harper – IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RIVER

Jury statement: With his hard-hitting and disturbing screenplay "In the Middle of the River", writer-director Damian John Harper has landed squarely in the Land of Enchantment. This story about an Iraq War veteran makes us hostages of a painful situation that we — like the protagonists in the film — look upon helplessly and are unable to escape from. The emotional fuel in this drama is the hatred that is fed by a never-ending source of ongoing injuries and deep, agonizing pain. The author put not only himself at the mercy of this toxic setting during the process of researching and writing the screenplay, but mainly his hero, Gabriel, whose "divine strength" has been lost to a state of chronic pain that he attempts to control with medication. The complex, interwoven relationships are cleverly arranged, and life in New Mexico and among its ethnic groups is acutely observed and starkly rendered on paper, thus giving them a voice. This is authenticity that can't be made up, only told by someone in their midst. For this, Damian John Harper has earned the German Cinema New Talent Award for Best Screenplay at FILMFEST MÜNCHEN 2018.

Best Actor/Actress
Aenne Schwarz – ALLES IST GUT

Jury statement: "Your silence will not protect you," said Audre Lorde. But for the protagonist Janne, this silence seems to be the only thing that will protect her. She protects herself with an ignorance directed at herself. Her fear of hurting others and disappointing them with her weakness is too great. Janne is the kind of woman we meet in everyday life, but who is very seldom seen in cinema. Aenne Schwarz has succeeded in portraying this character authentically. It hurts again and again to watch her, and with every moment of silence, with every thought of "It's all good", the movie screen mirrors our society. Directly and without an ounce of self-pity, she leads this silent woman out of desperation and toward rebellion. For this remarkable achievement, we present the 2018 German Cinema New Talent Award for Acting to Aenne Schwarz.

Jury 2018

Vicky Krieps
Actress (HANNA, COLONIA DIGNIDAD, ZIMMERMÄDCHEN LYNN (German Cinema New Talent Award as best actress), DER SEIDENE FADEN)

Jamila Wenske
Producer (THE TALE, THE HAPPIEST DAY IN THE LIFE OF OLLI MÄKI)

Uisenma Borchu
Director (SCHAU MICH NICHT SO AN (Fipresci Prize at FILMFEST MÜNCHEN))

Previous Winners:

German Cinema New Talent Award 2002-2017

Regie-Förderpreis (Director's Promotional Award) 1989-2001