Jan 26, 2022
The 2022 GWFF Best First Feature Award Jury

Since 2006, when it introduced the GWFF Best First Feature Award, the Berlinale has been even more committed to supporting the next generation of filmmakers. The award is endowed with 50,000 Euros, donated by the GWFF (Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung von Film- und Fernsehrechten), a society dedicated to safeguarding film and television rights. The prize money is to be split between the producer and the director of the winning film. Additionally, the director will be awarded with a high-quality viewfinder as both a useful instrument and memorable trophy.

In total, 18 directorial feature film debuts from the sections Competition, Encounters, Panorama, Forum, Generation and Perspektive Deutsches Kino are nominated for the GWFF Best First Feature Award.

A three-person jury will decide on the GWFF Best First Feature Award:

Gaia Furrer (Italy)
Born in 1975 in Italy, Gaia Furrer graduated in Cinema History at the University La Sapienza in Rome. She collaborated with Film Italia, the public agency in charge of promoting Italian cinema abroad, curating national and international projects. Furrer has also programmed and consulted on a few film festivals. Since 2004, she has worked as Head of Programming at the Noir in Festival, one of the most important European festivals focused on the film noir genre. After working as a programmer and as Head of Programming since the very first edition at Giornate degli Autori, the independent sidebar of the Venice Film Festival, she was appointed as its new Artistic Director in 2020.

Vimukthi Jayasundara (Sri Lanka)
Vimukthi Jayasundara is an award-winning Sri Lankan director known for his surreal films. After finishing his documentary, Land of Silence (2002), he made his directorial debut with Forsaken Land (2005), which won the Camera d’Or for best first feature at Cannes. This was followed by Between Two Worlds (2009), which competed at the Venice Film Festival, Chatrack (2011), which went on to be selected for Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes and Dark in the White Light, which was selected for the Competition at Locarno in 2015. In 2012, he was invited to be one of three international directors to produce a film for the Jeonju Digital Project. He is currently developing his new feature Turtle’s Gaze on Spying Stars.

Shahrbanoo Sadat (Afghanistan)
Shahrbanoo Sadat is an Afghan filmmaker, who was recently evacuated from Kabul, when the Taliban seized power in August 2021. Her filmography involves the debut film Wolf and Sheep, which won the top award at the Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight in 2016. Her second feature Parwareshgah (The Orphanage) was supported by, among others, the Berlinale World Cinema Fund and also premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight in 2019. Both films are part of a five-part series based on Anwar Hashimi’s autobiographical text of 800 pages. Since 2020, Sadat has been working on the third part, a romantic comedy called Kabul Jan based in Kabul before the current political situation.

The following 18 feature films are nominated for the GWFF Best First Feature Award:

Competition

Robe of Gems (Robe of Gems)
Mexico / Argentina / USA
by Natalia López Gallardo
with Nailea Norvind, Antonia Olivares, Aida Roa
World premiere

Encounters

Sonne
Austria
by Kurdwin Ayub
with Melina Benli, Law Wallner, Maya Wopienka
World premiere

Panorama

Alle reden übers Wetter (Talking About the Weather)
Germany
by Annika Pinske
with Anne Schäfer, Anne-Kathrin Gummich, Judith Hofmann, Marcel Kohler, Max Riemelt
World premiere

Cinco lobitos (Lullaby)
Spain
by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa
with Laia Costa, Susi Sánchez, Ramón Barea, Mikel Bustamante
World premiere

Una femmina (Una Femmina - The Code of Silence)
Italy
by Francesco Costabile
with Lina Siciliano, Fabrizio Ferracane, Anna Maria De Luca, Simona Malato, Luca Massaro
World premiere

Fogaréu (Fogaréu)
Brazil / France
by Flávia Neves
with Bárbara Colen, Eucir de Souza, Nena Inoue, Fernanda Vianna, Vilminha Chaves, Timothy Wilson, Typyire Ãwa
World premiere

Kdyby radši hoelo (Somewhere Over the Chemtrails)
Czech Republic
by Adam Koloman Rybanský
with Miroslav Krobot, Michal Isteník, Anna Polívková
World premiere

Produkty 24 (Convenience Store)
Russian Federation, Slovenia, Turkey
by Michael Borodin
with Zukhara Sanzysbay, Lyudmila Vasilyeva, Tolibzhon Suleimanov, Nargiz Abdullaeva
World premiere

Forum

Bashtaalak sa'at (Shall I Compare You to a Summer's Day?)
Egypt / Lebanon / Germany
by Mohammad Shawky Hassan
with Donia Massoud, Ahmed El Gendy, Salim Mrad
World premiere

Cette maison (This House)
Canada
by Miryam Charles
with Schelby Jean-Baptiste, Florence Blain Mbaye, Eve Duranceau World premiere

Europe
Germany / France
by Philip Scheffner
with Rhim Ibrir, Thierry Cantin, Didier Cuillierier
World premiere

Generation Kplus

Bimileui eondeok (The Hill of Secrets)
South Korea
by Jieun Lee
with Moon Seung-a, Jang Sun, Lim Sunwoo
World premiere

An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl)
Ireland
by Colm Bairéad
with Catherine Clinch, Carrie Crowley, Andrew Bennett
World premiere

Moja Vesna (Moja Vesna)
Slovenia / Australia
by Sara Kern
with Loti Kovačič, Mackenzie Mazur, Gregor Baković, Claudia Karvan
World premiere

Generation 14plus

Stay Awake
USA
by Jamie Sisley
with Wyatt Olef, Fin Argus, Chrissy Metz
World premiere

Sublime
Argentina
by Mariano Biasin
with Martín Miller, Teo Inama Chiabrando, Azul Mazzeo World premiere

Perspektive Deutsches Kino

Echo
Germany
by Mareike Wegener
with Valery Tscheplanowa, Ursula Werner, Andreas Döhler, Felix Römer, Oskar Keymer, Marina Galic
World premiere

Wir könnten genauso gut tot sein (We Might As Well Be Dead)
Germany / Romania
by Natalia Sinelnikova
with Ioana Iacob, Pola Geiger, Jörg Schüttauf, Şiir Eloğlu, Moritz Jahn, Susanne Wuest
World premiere

Press Office
January 26, 2022