Prizes of the Independent Juries

Since 1992, the international film organisations of the Protestant and Catholic Churches - INTERFILM and SIGNIS - have been represented by the Ecumenical Jury. It consists of six members and awards its main prize to a film entered in the Competition. It also awards two other prizes, both worth 2,500 Euros, one to a film from the Panorama and one to a film in the Forum.

The prizes go to directors who have succeeded in portraying actions or human experiences that are in keeping with the Gospels, or in sensitising viewers to spiritual, human or social values.

Members of the Jury 2015:
Lukáš Jirsa
Gustavo Andujar
Gregg Brekke
Piet Halma
Dr. Inge Kirsner
Joachim Opahle

The juries of the “Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique” (FIPRESCI), the international film critics association, view films from the Competition programme and the Panorama and Forum sections. They award a prize for the best film in each of these sections.

Taxi
by Jafar Panahi

Statement of the Jury
Our award goes to a film showing great personal and artistic bravery. It is a multilayered tale about everyday life, an original narrative exploration of both human choices and constrained existence. A humane and subtle portrait of a filmmaker and his country, a man and his surroundings and fellow citizens. Above all, this witty, sharp and devious take on freedom of speech encapsulates the struggle of all artists who seek to overcome the restrictions of reality and express their emotions and opinions regardless of censorship or state bans.
The prize for the best film in Competition goes to Taxi directed by Jafar Panahi.

Paridan az Ertefa Kam (A Minor Leap Down)
by Hamed Rajabi

Statement of the Jury
Our award goes to a film that speaks in a very subtle and nuanced way about depression, rebellion and psychological diseases. Though set in a specific country, the film is able to present how social and family relationships work in general terms. Of special note is the complex cinematic language and especially how long takes are used in a very fine way to shape the subject.
The Prize for the best film in Panorama goes to Paridan az Ertefa Kam (A Minor Leap Down) by Hamed Rajabi.

Members of the Jury 2015

Competition
José Romero
Belinda van de Graaf
Mode Steinkjer

Panorama
Alexey Gusev
Bettina Hirsch
Zsolt Gyenge

Forum
Neil Young
Julia Teichmann
Beat Glur

The jury of the "Gilde deutscher Filmkunsttheater“ (Guild of German Art House Cinemas) is composed of three members who run cinemas and are members of the Guild. The jury awards its prize to a film screened in the Competition.

Members of the Jury 2015
Adrian Kutter
Rudolf Huber
Moritz Busch

The "Confédération Internationale des Cinémas d’Art et d’Essai" (C.I.C.A.E.), the International Confederation of Art House Cinemas, forms one jury for the Panorama and one for the Forum. Each jury awards one prize in its section.

Members of the Jury 2015
Lina Winkler
Marie Vassort
Jacopo Chessa
Sylvie Buscail
Peggy Johnson
Malgorzata Kuzdra

Launched for the first time in 2003 within the Cannes Film Festival, the "Europa Cinemas Label" has been created in order to help European films increase their distribution and raise their profile with audiences and media. The Label is since then awarded by a jury of five member exhibitors to a European film selected in the Directors' Fortnight section in Cannes and since 2004 in the Venice Days. Since 2005, Europa Cinemas has been cooperating with the Berlinale to award the Label in the Panorama section.

Members of the Jury 2015
Elsie Roose
Andrea Stosiek
Pedro Barbadillo
Artem Ryzhkov

The Teddy Award – the most outstanding queer film prize in the world – is a socially engaged, political honour presented to films and people who communicate queer themes on a broad social platform, thereby contributing to tolerance, acceptance, solidarity and equality in society.

During the Berlinale the award is presented in the following categories: Best Feature, Best Documentary / Essay Film and Best Short Film as well as the Special Jury Award. Every year films from all sections of the Berlin International Film Festival compete for the Teddy Awards.

Udo Kier

Members of the Jury 2015
Gustavo Scofano
Nick Deocampo
Muffin Hix
Yvonne Behrens
Diego Trerotola
Shana Myara
Predrag Azdejkovic
Mascha Nehls
Bradley Fortuin

In 2012, the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section’s eleventh year, the Berlinale launched the “Made in Germany - Perspektive Fellowship”, funded by Glashütte Original. The 15,000-euro fellowship is conceived to support emerging German directors in developing a film project, material and screenplay, and will be awarded to a talented new filmmaker from Perspektive Deutsches Kino. All of the directors who presented films in the Perspektive programme of the previous year can apply.
See also Made in Germany – Perspektive Fellowship

Oskar Sulowski
for Rosebuds

Members of the Jury 2015
Angelina Maccarone
Jenny Schily
Jochen Laube

Since 2004, the prize "FGYO-Award Dialogue en perspective", has been awarded to a film entry in the section Perspektive Deutsches Kino. The French-German Youth Office (FGYO) is already for the twelfth time the sponsor of the “FGYO-Award Dialogue en perspective”, endowed with 5,000 €. The prize is the result of an intercultural dialogue on film between young people from two different countries: France and Germany.

The prize is awarded to the film that equally impresses the young and critical jury members from the two nations. The prize jury is composed of seven members and is headed by a president. The jury members are selected by the prize donators by means of a public call for application. The president of the jury is a professional whose work enriches the cinematographic dialogue between France and Germany.This jury is the only one at the Berlin International Film Festival which is constituted after an open call for tender.
See also FGYO-Award Dialogue en perspective.

Jury 2015
Marie Bäumer (Jury President)
Alexander Graeff
Marian Freistühler
Louise Cognard
Alice Wagret
Chloé Odstrcil
Pauline Robert
Hendrik Neuman

A five-person jury awards the Caligari Film Prize to a film in the Forum. The prize is sponsored by the "German Federal Association of Communal Film Work" and “filmdienst” magazine. The winning film is honoured with 4,000 Euros, half of which is given to the director, the other half is meant to fund distribution.

Members of the Jury 2015
Michael Baute
Maximilian Becker
Barbara Fischer-Rittmeyer
Nils Daniel Peiler
Dr. Margarete Wach

The jury comprises nine members who view films from all sections. The Peace Film Prize is awarded in the form of a bronze sculpture by Otmar Alt and includes prize money of 5,000 euros. It is awarded under the patronage of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and supported by the Zehlendorf Peace Intiative, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, the International Auschwitz Committee and the IPPNW.

Members of the Jury 2015
Marianne Wündrich-Brosien
Helgard Gammert-Jakli
Claudia Gehre
Martin Zint
Andreas Altenhof
Michael Kotschi
Katrin Schlösser
Lena Müller
Anna Sofie Hartmann

The German branch of Amnesty International has awarded the Amnesty International Film Prize for the first time at the Berlinale 2005. The prize is worth 5,000 Euros. The jury will view films entered into the Competition, Panorama, Forum and Generation sections, paying special attention to documentaries. The aim of the prize is to draw the attention of audiences and representatives of the film industry to the theme of human rights and encourage filmmakers to tackle this topic.

Members of the Jury 2015
Sibel Kekilli
Markus Beeko
Marcus Vetter

A three-person jury awards the Heiner Carow Prize for the promotion of German cinematic arts to a documentary, feature or essay film in the Panorama section. The award is sponsored by the DEFA Foundation and is worth 5,000 euros. The prize honours films that address the social and political issues of today and in history with extraordinary aesthetic means.

Members of the Jury 2015
Andriy Khalpakhchi
Matthias Freihof
Konstanze Schiller

In cooperation with the Allianz Cultural Foundation, Forum Expanded will bestow the Think:Film Award. The three-person jury will select a film or artistic work from the Forum Expanded programme that creatively uses its own medium to artistically capture and reflect geopolitical contexts, and in doing so, expands the scope of aesthetic experience and stimulates a change of perspective.

The award includes trips to Berlin and Cairo with a public presentation of the selected work, as well as a travel budget of 1,000 Euro. The Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Art, and its partner institution, the Cimatheque - Alternative Film Center in Cairo will host the presentations.

The jury 2015: Karim Aïnouz, Mohamed Beshir and Ala Younis.

Oskar Dawicki in The Performer by Maciej Sobieszczanski and Lukasz Ronduda

and

Untitled (Human Mask) by Pierre Huyghe

Special Mention:
Thamaniat wa ushrun laylan wa bayt min al-sheir (Twenty-Eight Nights and A Poem) by Akram Zaatari

All Berlinale visitors can vote for the Panorama Audience Award by filling in a vote sheet. The prize was started in 1999 and is made possible by a joint initiative between the Berlin city magazine tip, the radio channel radioeins and the Panorama section itself.

The jury is made up of twelve readers of the daily newspaper "Berliner Morgenpost". The prize is awarded to a feature film in the Competition section.

Since the Berlinale 2007, the Berlin-based national daily newspaper "Tagesspiegel" has awarded a Readers' Prize. The jury consists of nine members and the prize is given to the best film in the Forum.

The jury, which is made up of seven readers of the Berlin gay and lesbian magazine "Siegessäule", takes into account all films with gay or lesbian content, regardless of which section they are in. The prize is awarded to a feature-length film and is endowed with 1,000 Euro.

Since 2011, ARTE has presented the ARTE International Prize, which is worth €6,000 and goes to one of the projects selected for the Berlinale Co-Production Market.

Marcela Said from Chile
For Los Perros, produced by Jirafa from Chile and Cinéma Defacto from France

In 2015 the renowned Eurimages Co-Production Development Award, which comes with a prize money of EUR 20,000, will be given to the producers of one of around 25 projects selected from the Berlinale Co-Production Market for the first time. Eligible for the award are Co-Production Market projects that have been conceived from the outset as theatrical co-productions involving at least two eligible Eurimages countries. These co-productions may not, however, be solely financial in nature. Outstanding artistic quality and a project’s chances of being realised as a majority European co-production are the main criteria for selecting the winner.

The Talent Project Market offers about ten producers and directors taking part in Berlinale Talents the opportunity to present their project to potential coproducers and backers at the Berlinale Co-Prouduction Market. Since 2004, the 10,000 euro VFF Talent Highlight Pitch Award has been donated by the VFF copyright agency for film and TV producers during the Talent Project Market. An international jury presents the award to the most promising project in terms of its realisability and potential as a film production.

Producer Gema Juarez Allen from Argentina and Director Abner Benaim from Panama
For Biencuidao

In 2015 the Berlinale Talents Doc Station Development Grant was awarded for the first time to one of the ten documentary film projects that had been selected for the Doc Station. The EUR 3,000 cash prize for the director is donated by Canada Goose and provides the winner with the opportunity to develop the film project.

Marouan Omara from Egypt
for his project Dream Away

The Sound Studio is a hands-on training programme for all sound designers and score composers participating in Berlinale Talents. The programme features workshops, case studies and presentations, which focus on the use of sound in the filmmaking process and its importance for the narrative structure of a story. Participants in the 2014 Sound Studio had the opportunity to do sound design for a Dolby® Atmos policy trailer which will be used in Dolby® Atmos cinemas worldwide. The winner will travel to Dolby® in Wootton Basset, England, to complete the final mixing using Dolby® Atmos.

Warren Santiago (Thailand, Philippines)