And the Winners Are...

From 2012 to 2021 three Film Prizes, each endowed with 60,000 euros, have been annually issued by the international Film Prize Jury at the award ceremony held during Berlinale Talents. 

All completed films have had a successful festival run.

Winners 2020_1440x702
David Ausserhofer, Berlinale Talents 2020
2013 | Short Fiction Film

Ave Maria

The silent routine of 5 Palestinian nuns in the middle of the West Bank wilderness is disrupted when a family of Israeli settlers come knocking at their door for help after crashing into the convent’s wall. The Israelis...

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2015 | Documentary

Amal

Amal is a feisty teenager growing up in post- revolution Egypt while they’re both undergoing a tremendous change. Within a constant political turmoil, Amal searches for her place, identity and sexuality in a patriarchal...

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2018 | Short Fiction Film

Maradona's Legs

In a Palestinian village during the Football World Championship 1990, the young brothers Rafat and Fadel are searching for “Maradona’s legs” - their World Cup album’s last missing sticker. Will they master the obstacles...

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2018 | Documentary

Purple Sea

I lie on my back beneath the water’s surface. The Mediterranean Sea is purple. I see reflections of sunlight, feel the water in every pore. I’m not afraid anymore.

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2018 | Animation

How My Grandmother Became a Chair

It is the story of a grandmother becoming a chair, nine children becoming greedy roosters, and a...

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2017 | Short Fiction Film

Fakh / The Trap

In a desolate, run-down Egyptian seaside resort, working-class Aya finds herself increasingly trapped by her domineering boyfriend Islam. To what lengths will she go to break free?

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2017 | Documentary

Behind Closed Doors

‘Behind Closed Doors’ is a portrait of a farming family living in the most marginalized region of Morocco, the Rif mountains, where livelihood comes exclusively from growing cannabis. The film explores the inherent taboo...

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2017 | Animation

Night

A mother who couldn’t sleep for years meets a storyteller whose stories can heal the sleepless souls.

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2016 | Short Fiction Film

Tshweesh

The world cup starts, the people in Beirut are excited; the highly anticipated event is disrupted by strange audio waves making way to a bigger live event.

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2016 | Documentary

Miguel's War

Miguel’s War portrays a sensitive but self-destructive Lebanese man, strongly oppressed by society all through his youth. In 1982 he decides to participate in Lebanon’s civil war to find a place within society and to prove...

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2016 | Animation

Four Acts for Syria

Syrian history has been multicultural for centuries. This story is a voyage through Syrian culture until today's insanity, trying to find hope for the Syrian people.

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2015 | Short Fiction Film

The Parrot

A Mizrahi Jewish family from Morocco, who tries to settle in to their new life in 1948 Haifa, Palestine is haunted by a disturbing house guest, a left behind big red parrot from the former Arab residents.

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2014 | Short Fiction Film

Dry Hot Summers (Har .. Gaf .. Sayfan)

Two lonely people at opposite chapters of life accidentally meet on a busy summer day in a Cairo...

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2014 | Documentary

Possessed by Djinn

The belief in demons, or “djinn”, is a little-known aspect of Islamic culture. In a subjective investigation of this controversial topic the film follows the true story of Aya, a four-year-old Jordanian girl killed by her...

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2014 | Animation

Manivelle - Last Days of the Man of Tomorrow

After three quarters of a century in Lebanon, a robot that is built to last forever, searches for...

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2013 | Short Fiction Film

Free Range

Based on actual events, "Free Range" is the story of a cow that crosses the border from Israel to Lebanon and meets with 16 year old Malakeh and her family. A Lebanese Spaghetti-Western that talks about borders and power...

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2013 | Documentary

Gaza Surf Club

In Gaza, trapped between Israel and Egypt and ruled by the Hamas, a young generation is drawn to the beaches. Sick of occupation, war and religious fanaticism they have found their own means of protest: surfing, breakdance and...

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2019 | Short Fiction Film

Homeless Hearts

“If my love for Gilbert is a crime, let history witness that I am a dangerous criminal” signed Tarzan. Beirut, the civil war, a sniper’s nest and a hidden love story.

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2019 | Documentary

Do You Love Me

Do You Love me is an archive based essay documentary about the bittersweet personal accounts of the generations that grew up during and post the Lebanese Civil War, interwoven with the rise and fall of the...

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2019 | Documentary

Abo Zabaal 1989

Egyptian activist and filmmaker Bassam revisits haunting memories of his father Mahmoud’s imprisonment in 1989 and the life-changing impact on his socialist family, consulting also their political...

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