Jurys & AwarDs
FILMFEST HAMBURG is this year awarding prize money worth a total of 145,000 Euros. Renowned directors, producers, actors and other cultural professionals will serve as jury members to decide on the winners in the various sections of the festival.
Hamburg Producers Award
INTERNATIONAL Cinema-CoPRO
The Hamburg Producers Award International Cinema-CoPro is endowed with 25,000 Euros, which is provided by the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and awarded to the German co-producer.
Nominated Films
Jury
Bettina Brokemper
is the founder and producer of the Cologne-based film production company Heimatfilm. She has co-produced over 50 films, including Lars von Trier’s Dogville and Antichrist, Eran Riklis’ The Syrian Bride, the Berlinale award-winning Bal, Margarethe von Trotta’s Hannah Arendt and, most recently, La Mort Viendra by Christoph Hochhäusler. Her productions have been screened at renowned international festivals and have received over 100 awards. Bettina Brokemper is a member of the European Film Academy, a former Berlinale juror and a lecturer. She was honoured with the Prix Eurimages for her outstanding achievements and was named one of the 40 most influential women in international film by The Hollywood Reporter in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
İlker Çatak
was born in Berlin in 1984 and grew up in Istanbul. He studied film directing in Berlin and Hamburg, and his graduation film Sadakat (2014) won numerous awards, including the Student Academy Award in Gold. His feature film debut Es war einmal Indianderland was released in 2017, followed by I Was, I Am, I Will Be (Bronze Lola 2020) and Stambul Garden (2021). He has also worked in television, including an episode of the series TATORT. His film The Teachers’ Lounge premiered at the Berlinale in 2023, won numerous awards and was nominated for the Oscar for Best International Feature Film in 2024. His current film Yellow Letters is currently in distribution.
MECHTHILD HOLTER
is the managing director of the Players Agency in Berlin. After studying theatre, film and television studies, Romance languages and English in the 1980s, she worked as a freelance photographer in the music and film world, including for SPEX magazine and for city, zeitgeist and women’s magazines. In 1991, Mechthild Holter founded Barbarella Entertainment in Cologne together with three partners. Mechthild Holter began representing actors at Barbarella Entertainment. In April 1994, she founded Players Agentur Management in Cologne, which now represents directors, authors and visual designers in addition to actors. Players has been based in Berlin since 1997.
Hamburg Producers Award
German Cinema
The Hamburg Producers Award German Cinema has been presented in the ‘Große Freiheit’ section since 2018. The producer of the winning film receives 25,000 Euros. The prize money is provided by the Ministry of Culture and Media.
NOMINATED FilmS
Jury
Lena Urzendowsky
appeared in musicals on stage as a child before attracting widespread attention as an actress in series such as How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) and the feature film Kokon. She played leading roles in films such as Zwischen uns der Fluss by Michael Klier, where she also served as co-writer for the first time, 791KM and Franky Five Star. Her acting performances have been honoured with the Grimme Prize and the German Acting Prize, among others. Most recently, she received great acclaim for her performance in Mascha Schilinski’s film Sound of Falling, which celebrated its world premiere in competition at Cannes and was awarded the Jury Prize. The Berlin-born actress made her theatre debut in 2023 at the Nibelungen Festival in Worms as Brynhild, directed by Pınar Karabulut. She has been a member of the Schauspielhaus Zürich ensemble since autumn 2025.
Zamarin Wahdat
is a cinematographer and director. After studying film in New York, she was a cinematography fellow in Film Independent’s Project Involve programme. Her work as cinematographer on the Oscar-winning short documentary Learning How to Skate in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl) took Zamarin Wahdat back to Kabul – an experience that inspired her to direct her own short film, Bambirak. The film won Best International Short Film at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. As a cinematographer, she has worked on productions such as Spirit in the Blood and Long Distance Swimmer: Sara Mardini. She has been accepted into the American Society of Cinematographers’ Vision Mentorship Programme and is involved in mentoring for the Goethe-Institut in India, among others. She is currently working on her first feature film and was part of the renowned Ingmar Bergman Residency.
Silvan Zürcher
is a Swiss producer and screenwriter. He studied philosophy, film studies and German language and literature in Bern and Zurich, followed by film production at the DFFB. In 2017, he founded Zürcher Film GmbH to realise film projects together with his brother Ramon Zürcher. His debut film The Strange Little Cat and his subsequent film The Girl and the Spider both premiered at the Berlinale. The latter won the Best Director Award and the FIPRESCI Prize in the ‘Encounters’ section. The Sparrow in the Chimney was screened in competition at Locarno and at numerous other festivals and won the Film Critics’ Choice Award at FILMFEST HAMBURG and two Swiss Film Awards, among others. Silvan Zürcher is currently writing the psychological drama Die Haut meines Begehrens (AT). He is a member of the European and Swiss Film Academies.
Hamburg ProdUCERs AwardS
German Television Films & German Series
The Hamburg Producers Award German Television Films is presented in the ‘Television’ section. The producer of the winning film is awarded 25,000 Euros. The prize is endowed by the VFF, Verwertungsgesellschaft der Film- und Fernsehproduzenten. Since 2021, the Hamburg Producers Award German Series has also been presented. This award, with a prize of 10,000 Euros, is likewise donated by the VFF.
NOMINATED FilmS
Jury
Malick Bauer
gained his first stage experience in Hamburg’s off-theatre scene. From 2015 to 2019, he studied acting in Leipzig. As a member of the ensemble at the Neues Theater Halle, he played the lead role in ‘Ziemlich beste Freunde’ (The Intouchables), among other roles. In 2019, he made his debut at the Volksbühne Berlin in Katja Brunner’s play ‘Die Hand ist ein einsamer Jäger’ and has since appeared in other theatre productions. At the same time, he has enjoyed success in film, television and radio, including in Frau Jordan stellt gleich, in the Dortmund TATORT and as a speaker for MDR Kultur. He attracted international attention in 2023 with the title role in the Disney miniseries Sam – A Saxon S, which won the Grimme Prize. This was followed by roles in Karoline Herfurth’s cinema hit Wunderschöner and in the second part of The Physician directed by Philipp Stölzl.
Sarika Lakhani
has been a producer at X-Filme Creative Pool since 2025. The daughter of a German mother and a Kenyan-Indian father, she grew up in southern Germany. After her first professional positions at Studio Babelsberg, she was involved in numerous national and international productions. As a graduate of the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB) and L’Atelier Masterclass, she joined Marie Steinmann and Tom Tykwer’s pilot project Soul Boy during the production of Germany 09. She then spent over 18 years managing One Fine Day Films and Some Fine Day Pix, where she conceived, supervised and was responsible for all film productions and workshop programmes.
Sabine Steyer-Violet
is a screenwriter, dramaturge and creative producer. After studying visual communication at the HFBK Hamburg, she made a cinema documentary film and documentary contributions for ARTE and ZDF, working her way through all stages of production from set runner to production manager. She then worked as a producer for National Geographic and Discovery Channel, European cinema co-productions (Nuit de Chien) and TV series (Blochin), and as a creative producer on the Netflix global hit Unorthodox. She now devotes most of her time to developing material as a screenwriter (Other Parents, Eldorado KaDeWe) and dramaturge. She also works as a music supervisor and has already overseen numerous projects, such as the series Bad Banks and Transatlantic.
The Political Film of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
The Friedrich Ebert Foundation has been honouring socially committed cinema since 2013. Documentary and feature films in the ‘Veto!’ section compete for prize money of 10,000 Euros. The award goes to the best director.
NOMINATED FilmS
Jury
Aimen Abdulaziz-Said
is a journalist and presenter. The 37-year-old moderates the Hamburg Journal and the political magazine Panorama 3 on NDR. Previously, he was the presenter of the ARD Mittagsmagazin.
Irene Appiah
is a lawyer, politician and, since 2025, the first black woman to serve as a member of the Hamburg Parliament. Raised in Hamburg with Ghanaian roots, she has been campaigning for educational equality, participation and diversity for many years. In the SPD parliamentary group, she is the speaker for equality, anti-discrimination, churches and religious communities. In addition to politics, culture is particularly close to her heart: she sees film as a powerful medium that raises awareness of social issues, arouses empathy and promotes dialogue. As a jury member, she contributes her political experience, her intercultural perspective and her commitment to democracy and cohesion.
Ali Samadi Ahadi
has been making films for over 33 years. His latest work, Seven Days, celebrated its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2024. The film was released in German cinemas in May 2025 and enjoyed a very successful launch in France in August 2025. Samadi previously achieved great success with audiences with the Pettersson and Findus series, Moonbound and Die Mucklas. The latter became the second most successful German film worldwide in 2022. With Lost Children (2005), he won the German Film Award and the Panorama Audience Award at the Berlinale, and with The Green Wave (2011), he won the Grimme Prize and international festival awards, including at the Sundance Film Festival.
Arthouse Cinema Award
The Arthouse Cinema Award of the International Association of Art Cinemas (C.I.C.A.E.) is being supported for the first time by the MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein with 25,000 Euros for PR campaigns for German distributors. Nominees are films that are being released in German cinemas.
NOMINATED FilmS
Jury
Mustafa El Mesaoudi
has been working as a cinema entrepreneur in the arthouse cinema sector since 2003 and currently operates five cinemas with a total of 20 screens. As a film distributor, he brought films such as Status Yo!, Kekexili and Shouf Shouf Habibi to cinemas in the 2000s. Under his label Immergutefilme, he has been responsible since 2021 for the distribution of films such as the Berlinale and Oscar winner No Other Land, Nabil Ayouch’s Everybody Loves Touda and Scandar Copti’s Happy Holidays. In November, Ameer Fakher Eldin’s Yunan, which is screening at FLMFEST HAMBURG this year, will be released in cinemas. As a member of the Board of Directors of Europa Cinemas, Mustafa El Mesaoudi is committed to networking European arthouse cinemas and has served as a lab leader on several occasions.
Aurel Graf
is a film programmer with many years of experience in both cinema and film festivals. Since 2024, he has been programme director of the Arthouse cinemas in Zurich, shaping the artistic direction of the renowned Le Paris, Piccadilly and Movie cinemas. Since 2023, he has also been working as programme director at Frame Cinema, where he has overseen the cinema’s artistic relaunch and curated its profile and programme. From 2018 to 2023, he worked at the Zurich Film Festival, where he was head of film coordination and programmer from 2020 onwards. In this role, he was involved in film selection, maintained important industry contacts and supervised the logistical aspects of the programme.
Verena von Stackelberg
founded Wolf Kino in Berlin in 2017 – a venue where independent films are screened and celebrated in lively exchange with the audience. She studied in London and worked at Curzon Cinemas and the Cambridge Film Festival. Until 2024, she was a member of the Berlinale selection committee. She is also involved in film funding committees and shares her knowledge of cinema management and programming at film schools.
NDR Young Talent Award
Hamburg students honour directors who present their feature film debut across all sections of the festival with the NDR Young Talent Award. The prize is endowed with 5,000 Euros and is provided by the German broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR).
NOMINATED FilmS
Jury
Valentina Cuadros Biggemann
is a filmmaker and visual artist from Bolivia, currently based in Germany. She is in her sixth semester of film studies at Hamburg (HFBK). Her work spans film, photography, and visual art, exploring themes such as queerness, family dynamics, spirituality, the body, and memory. She has exhibited at Galerie KIOSKO in Bolivia and published an article on the role of women in Bolivian film history in the library of MUSEF. In 2023, she served on the youth jury at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. Her artistic practice weaves together image, sound, and lived experience, blending the autobiographical with the collective and the political. For her, film is a medium of resistance, reflection, and social change.
Julia Giang
was born in Hamburg and is currently studying media informatics at HAW Hamburg. She is multilingual and has taught herself several languages. She discovered her passion for art and culture at an early age, and it continues to be an essential part of her everyday life, which she pursues through volunteer work. Since the pandemic, her focus has shifted to Asian cinema – especially films from East and Southeast Asia, which she has rediscovered in the context of her family roots.
Tara Madelaine Grubac
studies English and American literature with a minor in German sign language at the University of Hamburg. She has a passion for acting and appeared in two plays in 2024. In the summer of 2024, she was invited to the Theatertreffen der Jugend (Youth Theatre Festival) as part of the Berliner Festspiele as an actress in the play ‘Epic Fail’ (Junges Schauspielhaus Hamburg). Born in Hamburg, she is also an avid reader and film lover. She enjoys rediscovering books and films that she particularly likes.
Leo Kröhnke
was born in Hamburg and studies mechanical engineering at the TUHH. Since 2023, he has been a member of the TUHH’s Kino AG, with which he organises a film evening in the lecture hall every Tuesday. He is primarily responsible for graphics and social media. His keen enthusiasm for film took him to the cinema over 130 times last year – including the Berlinale, the BFI Film on Film Festival, several premieres and the FILMFEST HAMBURG, where he discovered some of his personal favourite films of the year.
JULIAN WICHERT
was born in southern Germany and has been studying English language and media studies at the University of Hamburg since 2023. In his studies, he can pursue his passion for stories in all their forms, whether in literature, film or theatre. In his free time, he enjoys going to the cinema, reading a good book or getting involved in his own artistic work. Alongside his studies, he works as a research assistant and tutor at the University of Hamburg. His research interests include visual culture, video and short film formats, and seriality. Before moving to Hamburg, he completed a bachelor’s degree in art/media studies and English at the University of Bremen.
Critics’ Choice Award
Film critics and culture journalists from regional and national daily newspapers, specialist publications, radio stations and online media present the award to a film from the programme that stands out for its original perspective. The Critics’ Choice Award is non-monetary and is presented in cooperation with the Association of German Film Critics.
NOMINATED FilmS
Jury
Sofia Glasl
is a freelance journalist and curator from Munich, where she studied theatre and film studies as well as cultural journalism and wrote her doctoral thesis on the films of Jim Jarmusch. She worked as an archivist for ZDF, was part of the programme team at the Munich Film Festival, developed a pitching format for the Hof Film Festival and is involved in selecting the programme for the annual German Cinema series at the Munich Film Museum. She writes about films, series and literature in anthologies, magazines and daily newspapers, including the arts section of the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the SZ newsletter Film & Serie. She enjoys being scared at the cinema and in front of the television.
Felicitas Kleiner
studied film, theatre, and general and comparative literature at the universities of Mainz and Bologna, completing her PhD in 2004. She joined Filmdienst magazine in 2007, first as a print editor and, since 2018, as an online editor. She also writes for the Catholic News Agency (KNA) and the Cologne city magazine Choices, and has contributed to a range of publications, including Reclam’s acclaimed film genre series. Felicitas Kleiner lives and works in Bonn.
Danny Marques Marçalo
can usually be found at the cinema or in bookshops. Since 2015, he has been reporting for NDR on the most important titles in film, television and literature. And he is just as passionate about radio as he is about television. He studied American Studies in Freiburg im Breisgau and Hamburg, grew up in Ahrensburg, and when he’s not reading or watching TV, he enjoys cats, dogs and football.
FILMFEST HAMBURG Audience Award
The audience selects the festival’s best film by voting online via QR code. The award, endowed with 5,000 Euros, is sponsored by the Hapag-Lloyd Foundation. Films in the TV section, the MICHEL Children’s and Youth Film Festival, as well as the opening and closing films, are not eligible for the vote.
MAJA
The MICHEL Film Award MAJA, endowed with 10,000 Euros, is sponsored by Hamburg cinema owner Hans-Peter Jansen. A jury of children and young people selects their favourite from all films competing in the MICHEL programme.
ALBERT WIEDERSPIEL PREIS
Since 2023, the Hapag-Lloyd Foundation has been awarding the Albert Wiederspiel Prize for international film directing, which is endowed with 10,000 euros. By awarding the prize and naming it after the former festival director of FILMFEST HAMBURG, the foundation aims to ‘honour a committed festival organiser and film enthusiast’ and to highlight Albert Wiederspiel’s personal commitment and work as a ‘mediator between cultures and worlds’ (Michael Behrendt, Chairman of the Hapag-Lloyd Foundation).
Douglas Sirk Preis
Since 1995, the Douglas Sirk Prize has been awarded at FILMFEST HAMBURG to individuals who have made outstanding achievements in film culture and the film industry.
