Nominations for the 2025 German Cinema New Talent Award
This year, the Munich International Film Festival will again present the German Cinema New Talent Award in four categories: directing, production, screenplay, and acting. These awards are among the most coveted among young German filmmakers, as a sponsorship award can help launch a promising career. This year, the jury is comprised of Liliane Amuat (actress), Erol Afşin (director and actor), and Jan-Ole Gerster (film director and screenwriter).
The German Cinema New Talent Award, worth a total of 70,000 euros, is sponsored by three partners: DZ Bank AG, Bavaria Film, and Bayerischer Rundfunk. This special award honors the best achievement by young talent in the feature films of the Munich International Film Festival’s New German Cinema section. All directors, producers, screenwriters, and actors whose feature films have been selected for this section are eligible to compete for the award, provided that it is their first, second, or third feature film.
This year, talented individuals involved in 14 films that are having their world premiere at the Munich International Film Festival have met these criteria.
The award categories carry the following prize money:
best emerging director (30,000 euros)
best emerging producer (20,000 euros)
best emerging screenwriter (10,000 euros)
best emerging actor or actress (10,000 euros)The winner in the category of best emerging screenwriter will receive not only the prize money, but also the opportunity to participate in a mentoring program. Bavaria Film will offer advice and assistance in developing the writer’s next screenplay and film project, including in some cases the option of carrying some of the costs of development.
In addition, producers whose work is honored with the German Cinema New Talent Award for best producer will receive 50,000 reference points toward funding from the German Federal Film Board (FFA).
The award ceremony will be held on the evening of July 4 at the University of Television and Film Munich (HFF) (by invitation only).
Since its introduction in 1989, when it was known as the Director’s Promotional Award, the German Cinema New Talent Award has been one of the most coveted honors within the German film industry. It has marked the start of a remarkable career for many its recipients, including directors Jan-Ole Gerster (“Oh Boy”) and Jakob Lass (“Love Steaks”) and actress Vicky Krieps (“Das Zimmermädchen Lynn”).Nominations for the 2025 German Cinema New Talent Award for BEST DIRECTOR:
Cornelius Schwalm for “Bernd – Operation Germanenkind”
Sebastian Husak for “Bubbles”
Stella Marie Markert for “Thanks for Nothing”
Alison Kuhn for “Holy Meat”
Christina Tournatzés for “Karla”
Michael Baumann for “Missing*Link”
Nikias Chryssos, Viktor Jakovleski for “Rave On”
Jacqueline Jansen for “Sechswochenamt”
Jovana Reisinger for “In the Name of the Empress”
Julius Grimm for “Zweigstelle”
Martina Plura for “Mädchen Mädchen”
Nominations for the 2025 German Cinema New Talent Award for BEST PRODUCTION:
Roshanak Khodabakhsh for “#Blacksheep”
Max Gleschinski, Jean-Pierre Meyer-Gehrke, Torsten Wichner for “Bernd – Operation Germanenkind”
Andreas Schmidbauer, Tanja Schmidbauer for “Bubbles”
Luc Vincent Hinrichsen for “Thanks for Nothing”
Eva-Maria Weerts for “All That’s Due”
Jacqueline Jansen for “Sechswochenamt”
Felix Mann, Ben Ulrich, Simon Bogocz for “Zweigstelle”
Dietrich Brüggemann for “Home Entertainment”
Nominations for the 2025 German Cinema New Talent Award for BEST SCREENPLAY:
Ana Cristina Tarpo-Wittich, Melanie Möglich for “#Blacksheep”
Cornelius Schwalm for “Bernd – Operation Germanenkind”
Leonard Hettich, Sebastian Husak for “Bubbles”
Stella Marie Markert for “Thanks for Nothing”
Alison Kuhn for “Holy Meat”
Yvonne Görlach for “Karla”
Sabine Westermaier, Michael Baumann for “Missing*Link”
Nikias Chryssos, Viktor Jakovleski for “Rave On”
Jacqueline Jansen for “Sechswochenamt”
Jovana Reisinger for “In the Name of the Empress”
Julius Grimm, Fabian Krebs for “Zweigstelle”
Kathi Kiesl for “Mädchen Mädchen”Nominations for the 2025 German Cinema New Talent Award for BEST ACTING PERFORMANCE:
Yasin El Harrouk for “#Blacksheep”
Verena Unbehaun, Matthias Rheinheimer, Sasha Weis for “Bernd – Operation Germanenkind”
Zeynep Bozbay for “Bubbles”
Safinaz Sattar, Sonja Weißer, Lea Drinda, Zoe Stein for “Thanks for Nothing”
Rona R., Leonidas Emre Pakkan for “Das Glück der Tüchtigen”
Homa Faghiri for “Holy Meat”
Elise Krieps for “Karla”
Luca Brüggemann for “Missing*Link”
June Ellys Mach for “Rave On”
Magdalena Laubisch, Gerta Gormanns for “Sechswochenamt”
Julia Windischbauer, Thomas Hauser, Benjamin Radjaipour for “In the Name of the Empress”
Nhung Hong, David Ali Rashed, Beritan Balci, Julian Gutmann for “Zweigstelle”
Nadine Dubois, Joseph Bundschuh for “Home Entertainment”
Kya-Celina Barucki, Julia Novohradsky, Nhung Hong for “Mädchen Mädchen”
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