Compass-Perspektive-Award & Kompagnon Fellowship

The Compass-Perspektive-Award is awarded to the best film in the current Perspektive Deutsches Kino programme. The award includes 5,000 Euros in prize money and the director is given a trophy in the form of a compass.

Perspektive Deutsches Kino and Berlinale Talents jointly award the annual Kompagnon Fellowship. Eligible to apply are directors and screenwriters of short or feature films who were part of the last edition of Perspektive Deutsches Kino, as well as permanent residents of Germany who will participate in the “Script Station”, ”Doc Station” or ”Short Film Station” at the current edition of Berlinale Talents.

A jury, comprised of three film professionals, will select one winner from Berlinale Talents and one from Perspektive Deutsches Kino. In addition to a stipend of 5,000 Euros (2,500 Euros for short films) for the independent development of a screenplay or project, the “Kompagnon” also provides a mentoring programme to help strengthen the filmmaker’s artistic signature, alongside professional coaching and improved industry networking opportunities.

Sieben Winter in Teheran (Seven Winters in Tehran) by Steffi Niederzoll

Statement of the Jury:
How does one overcome the feeling of powerlessness and show resistance?
Spellbound, we follow the story of a young woman who defies institutionalised male violence. What also emerges is a sensitive portrait of a family torn apart by the battle against an unethical regime. Using a variety of documentary materials, the film follows a strict narrative arc.
This film is painful and unsettling. At the same time, encountering the young protagonist Reyhaneh is inspiring, leaving us with a spark of hope. The 2023 Compass-Perspektive-Award goes to Seven Winters in Tehran by Steffi Niederzoll.

Honorable Mention goes to El secuestro de la novia (The Kidnapping of the Bride) by Sophia Mocorrea.

My Beloved Man’s Female Body by Anna Melikova (Berlinale Talents 2023)

Statement of the Jury:
The story is an identity game that constantly takes new turns. And early on, it gets very serious, because of the war dominating life in Ukraine. Is it possibly too soon to make a fiction film on the first weeks of the war of aggression?
We think that’s exactly what lends the film its urgency and documentative immediacy. The author dares to touch on difficult subjects, but does so with lightness, capturing characters who are all in transitionary phases. A trans-man decides to leave the war zone to protect his life. But he’s stopped at the country’s border, since he’s obliged to defend his country as a man, despite his papers identifying him as a woman. His partner stays by his side and must also redefine herself, since after his transition, she’ll be considered heterosexual. The whole country, just like these two characters, is in transition, and when it’s over, nothing will be the same as it was before. We see great potential in Anna Melikova’s project My Beloved Man’s Female Body and hereby award it with a Kompagnon Fellowship 2023.

Paraphrase on the Finding of a Glove by Mareike Wegener (Perspektive Deutsches Kino 2022)

Statement of the Jury:
The film is about a woman seldom seen in the movies – lonely, but searching, she wanders between reality and fantasy. The forced isolation of the pandemic is a barely manageable challenge for Cloe. The young philologist has made a career out of summarizing her clients’ resumes for speeches – but soon, they’re all eulogies. When even her own mother declines to hug Cloe, and her dog nearly dies from an overdose of sleeping pills, a lost glove becomes a substitute for human interaction and opens up a world of fantastic adventures. With the certainty of a sleepwalker, the film becomes a magical-realism thriller. Mareike Wegener plays with the audience’s expectations - fortunately, since it creates ludicrous moments of confusion that arise from the deep psychological pain of loneliness. Paraphrase on the Finding of a Glove is awarded with the Kompagnon Fellowship 2023. Congratulations!