So many films, so many prizes. The 41st FILMFEST MÜNCHEN congratulates all winners on their prizes and thanks all award donors who make it possible to honor special films. What great days we had. Let's celebrate the winners together.

German cinema new talent award

Yesterday, Friday, 07/05/2024, the German Cinema New Talent Award 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 2024, this jury was made up of actor and director Denis Moschitto, director Mariko Minoguchi and producer Florian Koerner von Gustorf. 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: Fabian Stumm for SAD JOKES

The jury:

“This film calmly depicts modern family structures and mental-health issues without being shocked by them. It is a focused look at the absurdities and vicissitudes of life, which can be harsh and abrasive, then simply unreal, and ultimately beautifully poetic. Fabian Stumm and his team have created a touching and entertaining film and given their fantastic ensemble the space to do their best. We wish the film a very successful theatrical release in September and look forward to many more works by Fabian Stumm!”

Best Screenplay: Aaron Arens for PLACES IN THE SUN

The jury:

“When the whole family unintentionally comes together at their vacation home on Lanzarote and no one is able to leave, everything is put on the table. The two authors succeed in getting the characters fully wound up, but always afford them the necessary respect.”

Best Production: Semih Korhan Güner for SMELL OF BURNT MILK

The jury:

“The careful scripting and thorough preparation were worth the effort. Through a combination of observation and dramatization, Semih Korhan Güner and Justine Bauer have succeeded in creating a strong emotional connection to five women on their dairy farm in southern Germany.”

Best Acting Performance: Atika Jumaih Bashiru for O CHALE

The jury:

“In few words, Atika Jumaih Bashiru’s performance conveys a sincerity that has moved us. Her ability to express emotions and inner turmoil through her mere presence is impressive and proves that good acting doesn’t always have to be loud and expressive.” 

cinemasters Award

The award in the CineMasters competition is the main prize of FILMFEST MÜNCHEN and is sponsored by long-time partners ARRI. Actor and director Marie-Lou Sellem, film distributor Moritz Peters and Rajendra Roy, The Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film at MoMA, selected the winning film from the fourteen entries in the competition and they chose EXPLANATION FOR EVERYTHING by Gábor Reisz as Best International Film:

"The film chosen by this jury masterfully paints a portrait of a divided society searching for a way forward. With naturalistic performances that draw the audience in and are enhanced by cinematography that invites direct engagement with the dilemmas faced by the characters, this film succeeds in depicting different political and generational positions. In an era of profound challenges to freedom of speech and discourse, we need art to engage with the complexities of contemporary life. In this spirit, the CineMasters jury presents its award to EXPLANATION FOR EVERYTHING by Gábor Reisz."

cinecopro Award

The award in the CineCoPro competition has been revived this year and is the highest endowed award at FILMFEST MÜNCHEN with 100,00 euros. The prize, sponsored by the FFF Bayern, is aimed at international co-productions with German participation. Director Baran bo Odar, actress Leonie Benesch and producer Sol Bondy selected the prize-winning film from the fourteen entries in the competition and chose TO A LAND UNKNOWN by Mahdi Fleifel as the winner:

"We would like to thank Julia Weigl and Christoph Gröner for their tireless efforts in reviving this great award. Thanks to the Free State of Bavaria and the FFF — with this award, you honor and support the work of many German producers who tell stories far from home and connect with an audience around the world. We have seen 10 wonderful, diverse films in this competition that represent the entire spectrum of international cinema. 

Out of these ten films, two made a distinct impression on us. Since we found both films outstanding, but only one can win, it was important to us to recognize one of them with a special mention. 

The Special Mention goes to: 

THE VILLAGE NEXT TO PARADISE. The film offers a sensitive insight into the life of a Somali patchwork family. With calm, compelling performances, this film touched and enlightened us in equal measure.

The CineCoPro Award goes to a film that deeply moved and captivated us. A portrait of young, stranded men in despair, who are forced to cross all boundaries to maintain their dream and perspective of a safe life in Europe. We are drawn into a world that is both tender and cruel, relentlessly raw and heartbreakingly human.  

We were captivated by the precision and warmth of the performances, the accurate narration of this gripping story, and the artistically outstanding achievements of all departments. We are very pleased to present the CineCoPro Award to the producers of TO A LAND UNKNOWN. 

Congratulations."

CineVision Award

The CineVision Award is given to the Best International Debut Film and is sponsored by MPLC. The jurors this year were filmmaker Bob Byington, director Sarah Blaßkiewitz and director Maksym Nakonechnyi. They chose the argentinian film SIMON OF THE MOUNTAIN by Federico Luis:

"The CineVision jury is pleased to present SIMON OF THE MOUNTAIN with 2024’s top prize at the 41st annual Munich International Film Festival. 

We singled this film out amidst a very strong field. All of the films demonstrated a dizzying level of skill and compassion, and the directors (and we have to point out the fantastic female directors) show a great deal of promise across the board. 

SIMON OF THE MOUNTAIN stood out, as the performances in this film were extraordinary; nothing was left outside the purview of the filmmaker’s meticulously precise vision for the film. The idea of describing a young man who doesn’t know where he belongs, but then self-empoweringly joins a group of young people with cognitive disabilities and perhaps finds a place for himself in this world for the first time, was not only executed, but in fact elevated, by the process of it coming into being.  

We are all looking for this place, especially among youth. 

It was an honor to participate in the process of selecting this film. Thank you.  

Bob, Maksym, and Sarah"

CineRebels Award

The CineRebels Award is sponsored by our main partner Audi and is endowed with 15,000 euros. It is a platform for format junkies, film adventurers and people with cinephile film taste. This year's jury of three, actress Dale Dickey, filmmaker and author Nicolas Wackerbarth and Mia Bays, the director of the Filmmaking Fund at the British Film Institute chose the film VIÊT AND NAM by Minh Quý Trương.

"Two intertwined bodies breathe heavily. Two young men caress each other. Both seem to be in free fall in the middle of space. But this vastness turns out to be the narrow tunnel of an underground coal mine that exploits both the land and those who work there. 

Love, trafficking, and the legacy of war are explored in this intimate yet epic drama set in Vietnam but banned in its homeland. Trương Minh Quý’s third feature, VIÊT AND NAM, offers us a deeply cinematic panorama shot on 16mm. The jury found it to be a very carefully calibrated work and a visually beautiful and emotional exploration of being young, economically disadvantaged, and queer in postwar Vietnam. 

The title characters, Viêt (Duy Bao Dịnh Dao) and Nam (Thanh Hai Pham), are young coal miners in love who dream of a different life and try to overcome the traumas of war within their families. This film follows a dreamlike logic and throws us into situations that we are always left to decipher, but never remains vague, instead delicately and intimately measuring a historical socioeconomic landscape in which two lovers must cling to each other in order not to be swept away by it. 

We congratulate Trương Minh Quý on this incredible and original work. We believe he and the film to be truly deserving recipients of this valuable prize."

An honorable mention goes to FRAGMENTS OF ICE by Maria Stoianova.

The jury:

"We wish to give special mention to a film that succeeds in conveying the impact of history on people’s lives. FRAGMENTS OF ICE is composed exclusively of private video footage taken by the director’s father — who travelled around the world during the Soviet era as a figure skater with the Ukrainian Ballet on Ice. The film ends with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. 

“The end of history never happened” is how filmmaker Maria Stoianova aptly sums it up: “It is frozen and only catches up with us years later.” FRAGMENTS OF ICE does not seek simple answers, but gives us an understanding of the complex interdependencies of Ukrainian history. The film brings us closer to the people of Ukraine and challenges us to support them in their desire to develop freely."

CineKindl Award

The prize, awarded for the first time in 2022, comes with €2,500 and is sponsored by megaherz. The three-member jury that chose the winning film this year consisted of screenwriter and actress Jytte-Merle Böhrnsen, producer Philipp Budweg and  director Barbara Kronenberg, and selected the film LARS IS LOL by Eirik Sæter Stordahl from among the nominees:

"Many thanks to Tobi Krell and Tobi Obermeier for this wonderful invitation and the marvelous selection of films we had the privilege of seeing this week! The section started off with a documentary graduation film from Germany and then opened a window onto the world in the form of two animated films and five feature films. In total, four of these were directed by women and four by men, and almost all of them were debut films. 

The films’ protagonists impressed us across the board. In particular, we wish to highlight the performances by the child actors in the fictional projects. We encountered a huge variety of narratives and new environments recommended for children aged five to 12, but we as adults thoroughly enjoyed this magnificent cinema as well. 

As a jury, we are especially eager to mention the intensity of coming-of-age films, which we unfortunately come across so rarely as a genre, but which have an immense capacity to leave a lasting impression on viewers of all ages. As a general request to all filmmakers here and elsewhere, without regard to our section: We want more of this! After all, what other genre has the power to get people of different generations talking to one another and perhaps also help them to understand each other better? 

And that brings us to our decision: 

Our world is complex and is often made even more complicated. Not all friendship is true friendship. The path of the many is not always the right one. Friendships can be put to the test, hold up under pressure, and not fall apart. And getting out of a maze of intrigue and prejudice unscathed is not so easy to pull off. 

Dramatized in a sophisticated way and presented to the audience at their level, the award-winning film allows us to accompany the protagonist on her emotional journey — in a process in which she learns to take a stand and, with the help of her friends, is able to admit her mistake. 

That is how this movie succeeds in being unbelievably important to all of us in the world we live in today. 

The 2024 CineKindl goes to LARS IS LOL by Eirik Sæter Stordahl."

young jury Award

Five young adults from Munich will be given the opportunity to award a prize to one of the films in the FILMFEST MÜNCHEN program that tells an outstanding story from the world of young people's experiences.In 2024, 12 films will compete for this award and the associated CineWave.This year's jury consists of Johannes Rockstuhl, Lorenzo Germeno, Maryna Shymko, Tarik Uslu and Virginia Olivia Obiakor. They chose HOARD by Luna Carmoon:

"Never before have we found a movie so captivating and at the same time so disgusting that you could literally smell it all the way in the back of the theater. HOARD is a wild emotional rollercoaster — bizarre, repulsive, fascinating, and all the while unbelievably horny. Besides having an outstanding cast, the film boasts impressive set designs and a deeply moving mother-daughter relationship. The way in which HOARD approaches the subject of repressed childhood trauma is unique and is complemented by a macabre sort of humor that lends the film a certain lightness in spite of its serious theme. 

Luna Carmoon’s daring debut film is a timeless work of art that inspires reflection and discussion."

An Honorable Mention goes to the film SISTERQUEENS by Clara Stella Hüneke.

"We wish to honor “Sisterqueens” by giving it special recognition. This film follows three young girls on their journey to becoming rappers, but it is so much more. It addresses key issues of concern to our society and especially our youth, and presents them in an understandable and approachable way. We wish to thank the makers of this film for these impressive moments in the cinema and award the film an honorable mention."

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 MÜNCHEN, a three-member international jury selected the best film in the New German Cinema series. This year's jury was composed of the film journalists Jason Gorber, Paola Casella and Rudolf Worschech. The 2024 FIPRESCI Award goes to Fabian Stumm for SAD JOKES:

"Have you heard the old joke that if you’re sad you should take a ride in an elevator, as you’ll find it uplifting? Fabian Stumm’s angst-ridden yet warm story involving broken relationships, struggles with mental illness, and challenges of dating while juggling parenthood, is one of those rare rides that are both uplifting and entertaining. SAD JOKES is moving without being maudlin, specific while also being universal, and skating a tonal knife’s edge with dexterity. Well-rounded performances bring joy to this nuanced, quietly comical tale that we, the FIPRESCI jury, are proud to celebrate as the best of this year’s selection."

Cinekindl audience award

Probably the strictest and most honest jury in the world decides on the awarding of prizes at the CineKindl film section: All visitors to the CineKindl films evaluate the films shown during the festival week and vote for their favorite via voting cards. And this year's winner is the film DÌDI by Sean Wang.