So many films, so many prizes. The 39th FILMFEST MÜNCHEN congratulates all winners on their prizes and thanks all award donors who make it possible to honor special films. What a great 10 days we had. Let's celebrate the winners together.

German cinema new talent award

Yesterday, Friday, 01.07.2022, the Förderpreis Neues Deutsches Kino was already awarded in four categories: Best Production, Best Actor, Best Screenplay and Best Director.

Every year, a three-member jury decides on the award - in 2022, this jury was made up of director Sönke Wortmann, actress Almila Bagriacik and producer Ingo Fliess . The German Cinema New Talent Award is one of the most important and most highly endowed prizes for young filmmakers in Germany. The prize, worth a total of 70,000 euros, is sponsored by Bavaria Film, Bayerischer Rundfunk and DZ Bank.

Best Director: Sophie Linnenbaum for THE ORDINARIES

The jury foresees a great future for the director:

"A great future could also be in store for the director of this film. Sophie Linnenbaum succeeds in dovetailing the outstanding skills of her associates. Cinematography, production design, costume design, a perfect cast, sound design that pulls out all the stops, and even musical elements with their own score and choreography: the director blends everything into a harmonious whole and excels in countless bursts of directorial inspiration. Yet she always makes time for the quiet parts as well — because she knows that a good comedy is only one step away from tragedy."

Best Screenplay: Florian Plumeyer and Katharina Woll for EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE LOVED

The story of a very hot summer day inspired the jury:

"Florian Plumeyer and Katharina Woll’s screenplay revolves around a psychotherapist who is eager to please everyone but neglects her own needs in the process. Films about psychotherapists are now practically their own subgenre, but the writers vary this material in new and surprising ways. When, for example, a patient outright refuses to talk about her problems, saying she’d rather “take something,” it becomes clear that any talking will only lead to further misunderstandings.

And thus each character in the script has a credible need that contradicts those of the others. It’s a sophisticated array of characters with conflicting wants and needs. Everybody wants to be loved, yes, but most importantly, everybody threatens everybody else: the daughter with moving out, the husband with moving away, the mother with her very existence. The dialogue in the film is incisive, believable, and gets to the heart of conversations in relationships. That’s what makes it so poignant — and so entertaining.

In the end, the protagonist is alone with the plants on her balcony. They only need water and light to grow — and they don’t talk back."

Best Production: Britta Strampe and Laura Klippel für THE ORDINARIES

This film also impressed the jury with its production:

"You have to rub your eyes in amazement: this is supposed to be a graduation film made at a university? THE ORDINARIES has what feels like a multimillion-dollar budget. The talent assembled in front of and behind the camera is unbelievable; the complexity of the design is awe-inspiring.

How did these two producers convince and persuade all the people involved? As effortless as the finished, highly original, film looks, it must have been so difficult to pitch! Beyond its realization, what is most impressive is how the producers worked with the director and managed to safeguard her vision in all stages of production without letting it be watered down.

In THE ORDINARIES, Britta Strampe and Laura Klippel from Bandenfilm have produced a film that is both entertaining and clever. To them, astuteness and entertainment are not a contradiction in terms. The world needs such producers — and we see a great future in store for both of them!"

Best Acting Performance: Lena Schmidtke for RAGE AT KUBA

This drama about a young woman in search of herself won over the jury:

"Why chickens don’t fly is a good question. ’Cause this chick does fly!

In a story that is anything but linear, a plot that seeks to throw us off again and again, you are such a strong emotional focus, so unpretentious, so natural, and so committed, that one can’t help but be swept up.

With a face I’ll never forget, with such a beautiful and genuine approach to interacting with the children, the way you shine and make everyone around you shine is incredibly special. Lena Schmidtke, fly, fly, and kiss the sky."

Arri Award

The award in the CineMasters competition is the main prize of FILMFEST MÜNCHEN and is sponsored by long-time partners ARRI. Producer Philipp Kreuzer, actress Sibel Kekilli and director Riley Stearns selected the winning film from the ten entries in the competition and they chose BROKER by Hirokazu Kore-eda as Best International Film:

"'Thank you for being born.' — A single sentence that touches the audience in such a way that entire films rarely can. When every character, no matter how small or large, is intricately layered, simultaneously fractured and in the end so lovingly developed, that’s cinema. Great cinema.

This film is a journey. One filled with longings, with decisions, with detours. Sometimes it is precisely these detours that we must take in life to find ourselves and each other. And we found a bit of ourselves in this film. The jury would like to award the ARRI Award for best international film in the CineMasters competition to BROKER."

LEILA'S BROTHERS, the tragic-comic family portrait by Iranian director Saeed Roustaee, received an honorable mention from the jury:

"A film about the weight of tradition and the inescapable bond that is family. It beautifully explores the moments in life that bring us together even when everything is seemingly trying to tear us apart.

This film shows in a remarkable way how family can be a curse and a blessing at the same time. A constant pull between self-interest and selflessness. It is equal parts social commentary, nuanced drama and a comedy or errors, and like these contradictions, we often found ourselves laughing through tears.

The jury would like to give an honorable mention to LEILA’S BROTHERS."

CineVision Award

The CineVision Award is given to the Best International Newcomer Film and is sponsored by MPLC. The jurors this year were director Alexandre O. Philippe, Gráinne Humphreys, the director of the Dublin International Film Festival and producer Roshanak Khodabakhsh. They chose the feature-length debut AFTERSUN by Scottish director Charlotte Wells:

"This film is a true CineVision. The view through the camcorder immediately connects us emotionally to father and daughter and their loving relationship. This film manages to take us on a holiday that we can all identify with. We smell the air, taste the sea, feel the heat on our skin, feel the chlorine in our eyes. The music is the link between future and past. With humor, love and lightness we are drawn to our memories even when they leave us paralyzed.

A vacation that was so beautiful for Sophie — one that should never end, but will forever remain a painful memory to her.

Paul Mescal & Frankie Corio's brilliant acting and the very warm human eye on a very difficult subject shows us a great visionary performance by Charlotte Wells. This is cinema! And we can't wait to see more of this talented director and give the award to AFTERSUN with the greatest joy and pride!"

WAR PONY by Riley Keough and Gina Gammell received an honorable mention from the jury:

"This powerful, allegorical film provides a much needed, and too rarely told, perspective on the realities of contemporary life on Native American reservations—focusing on the daily struggles of two Lakota boys living on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

The film notably reclaims longstanding symbols of North American tradition with humour and wit, bringing the Lakota community to vivid and compelling life. With the active involvement and brilliant performances of lead actors LaDainian Crazy Thunder and Jojo Pabteise Whiting, directors Riley Keough and Gina Gammell have created a very special and important coming-of-age film about an underrepresented community. The CineVision jury is proud to award a special mention to… WAR PONY."

CineRebels Award

The CineRebels Award, presented for the first time this year, is sponsored by our new main partner AUDI and is endowed with 10,000 euros. It is a new platform for format junkies, film adventurers and people with cinephile film taste. This year's jury of three, writer and director Jovana Reisinger, director Franziska Stünkel and director RP Kahl have chosen the film COOK F**K KILL by Mira Fornay.

"CineRebels are radical, experimental, surprising, and go against the grain. One would be mistaken to think only of dazzling visuals. In this very international section, we have discovered a great variety of subjects and have sifted through them in search of rebel dramaturgy, rebel themes, and rebel directing. Directors who leave us thunderstruck.

Award-winner Mira Fornay’s film “Cook F**k Kill” addresses a painfully contemporary subject: domestic violence. This film was carefully researched, and the jury found it to be a highly authentic description of toxic relationships. This film is a rebel. It switches genres. It starts out as a grotesque, but has us develop an affection for the characters without denying the brutality of the subject. The jury is aware that this film has the potential to enrage audiences, as it defies expectations at every turn. An experimental stance. A gamble.

This film mercilessly exposes the complexity of interpersonal relationships. This film does not make it easy for us, and yet it remains highly entertaining. Above all, this film accomplishes one thing: it makes us think."

CineKindl Award

The prize, awarded for the first time in 2022, comes with €2,500 and is sponsored by megaherz, a production company for children's films and programs for almost 40 years, whose mission is to captivate, inform and educate the growing generations. The three-member jury that chose the winning film this year consisted of producer Jana Kreissl, actress and presenter Pia Amofa-Antwi and Telescope Animation founding member Reza Memari, and selected the Swedish film COMEDY QUEEN by Sanna Lenken from among the nominees:

"The loss of a parent is probably the most painful thing that any child can experience. Addressing this topic in a film made for (we should note: not only) a young audience is audacious, important, and in this case exceptionally well executed. Sanna Lenken succeeds in striking exactly the right balance between somberness and lightheartedness. In a magnificent acting performance, Sigrid Johnson takes us into the mind of 13-year-old Sasha, whose primary goal following the death of her mother is to finally make her bereaved father laugh again. There is no room for her own tears. This simple premise develops into a powerfully emotional cinematic experience that leaves not a dry eye in the house when the plot is resolved.

And that’s why COMEDY QUEEN by Sanna Lenken wins the 2022 CineKindl Award."

An Honorable Mention goes to the film ONE IN A MILLION by Joya Thome.

"Looking beneath the surface in a respectful manner, this film familiarizes us with two lives that — geographically, at least — could not be further apart. Both protagonists succeed in breaking free of the expectations placed on them in a teenage world defined by followers and clicks. They get to know their bodies, fears, needs, and limits and mold these experiences into a new lifestyle. In their bold search for who they really are, the two girls Yara and Whitney develop a tremendous inner strength that guides us through this so tender and important coming-of-age documentary.

Honorable mention thus goes to the documentary ONE IN A MILLION by Joya Thome."

FIPRESCI-Prize

The FIPRESCI Prizes are film prizes awarded by the international film critics' and film journalists' association Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique. At FILMFEST MUNICH, a three-member international jury selected the best film in the New German Cinema series. This year's jury was composed of Austrian film journalist Barbara Gasser, Turkish film journalist Engin Ertan and Brazilian film journalist Enoe Lopes Pontes. 2022 FIPRESCI Award goes to Claudia Müller for ELFRIEDE JELINEK - LANGUAGE UNLEASHED:

The FIPRESCI jury at the 39^th Filmfest München decided to award a film for its outstanding craftsmanship in editing to create a narrative for the audience to access the sensibilities of a controversial artist.

The director has a unique artistic vision that aligns with that of the protagonist. This is a showcase example of bringing together two different art disciplines: cinema and literature.

The FIPRESCI Prize goes to a timely documentary: ELFRIEDE JELINEK – LANGUAGE UNLEASHED by Claudia Müller.

Kinderfilmfest audience award

Probably the strictest and most honest jury in the world decides on the awarding of prizes at the Kinderfilmfest: All visitors to the KINDERFILMFEST MÜNCHEN evaluate the films shown during the festival week and vote for their favorite via voting cards. And this year's winner is THE ROBBER HOTZENPLOTZ by Michael Krummenacher.