Minister of Fine Arts Promotion Prize - National Competition

"Prima Noapte" ("First Night") from Andrei Tănase

A special moment in the life of a young man. Which he imagined would be different. And he overreacts in his helplessness. The director sensitively reveals the fragility of the male identity during the process of maturing, and casually casts a glance at a specific social milieu. A film authentic in the moment. A film that stays in mind.

Golden Horseman Animated Film - International Competition

"Cipka" ("Pussy") from Renata Gąsiorowska

Social taboos should be discussed and confronted with a laugh. The jury had a lot of fun watching this peaceful connection between a woman and her body. For its original graphic style and its fluid animation technique

Golden Horseman Animated Film - National Competition

"Ein Aus Weg" from Hanna Stragholz and Simon Steinhorst

A colourful, expressive world of animation encounters a sound track from a unique everyday life. The combination of animation and documentary reportage develops into a form full of expression, which is both close and faraway to us at one and the same time. And equally moving.

Golden Horseman Short Fiction Film - International Competition

"Painting with History in a Room Filled with People with Funny Names 3" from Korakrit Arunanondchai

The jury was struck by the generous and chaotic power of a total work of art; or what we like to call "expanded cinema". It is made by a fearless artist who has no time to waste on labels and other conventions. He has created an anarchic love poem in which he looks at all sides and elements of a complex society.

Golden Horseman Short Fiction Film - National Competition

"Ela - Szkice na pozegnanie" ("Ela - Sketches on a Departure") from Oliver Adam Kusio

This is the story of separation as a new beginning. A film about the desire to get away and the duty to remain. With the camera seeking answers just like the protagonists. Tender and haunting, existential in both large and small. It is a profound look into the future of a generation. A moving film full of meaning without being intrusive.

Golden Horseman of the Youth Jury - International Competition

"Planemo" from Veljka Popovic

Unique images and powerful metaphors permit the audience to immerse themselves in the extraordinary situation of the protagonist. A key event leads to some grave changes in his relationship with his surroundings. This situation is filmically adapted through the atmospheric composition of innovative 3D animations and real footage.

Golden Horseman of the Youth Jury - National Competition

"Un Etat D´Urgence" ("State of Emergency") from Tarek Roehlinger

With its gloomy and tense atmosphere, the film draws us into a world in which everyday actions have become and remain suspicious. Thanks to its topicality and the danger it engenders, it seems as though reality and fiction have become indistinguishable. A conflict arises among the characters between living freedom and defending freedom. Marked by tension, mistrust and scepticism, the film radiates an intensity for the audience that captures them and creates an unforgettable experience.

Golden Horseman Sound Design – International & National Competition

"Eine Villa mit Pinien" Music: Ralf Hildenbeutel Sound: Michał Krajczok

The impressionistic images in the film are complemented with a completely unique tonal language. With aural worlds created in a constant interplay doing so, that add a threatening dimension to the exuberant filmic canvas. The music plays a fundamental role, comparable to a protagonist, reaching into the story and advancing it structurally. Working on the utmost level and with extraordinary ingenuity, the composer and the sound designer of this film manage to build bridges between the various plot levels through the sound.

ARTE Short Film Prize - International Competition

"Cipka" ("Pussy") from Renata Gąsiorowska

This creative and clever animated film, which focuses on first sexual desires in a courageous and nimble way, sweeps us away on a surprising journey of discovery to the deepest moments of intimacy. The confronting of one’s own gender here is characterised by so much humour and charm, that the film becomes irresistible. We congratulate the director and are looking forward to more creative pieces by her.

Golden Horseman of the Audience - National Competition

"Gabi" from Michael Fetter Nathansky

Golden Horseman of the Audience - International Competition

"Home" from Daniel Mulloy

DEFA Promotion Prize Animation - National Competition

"zu zahm!" from Rebecca Blöcher

Trapped in their roles. With expectations and stereotypes newly shuffled and exposed. The film leaves space for discovery.

Audience Award Regional Filmnight

"Mich vermisst keiner!" ("No one misses me!") from Erik Lemke

Special Mention of the International Jury

"A nyalintás nesze" ("The Noise of Licking") from Nadja Andrasev

For its imaginative and original story, elegant style and careful pacing.

Special Mention of the Youth Jury in the International Competition

"Empire of Evil" from Harald Hund

The mockumentary "Empire of Evil" deals with the subject of one-sided Western reporting in a very authentic and humorous manner. With us asking ourselves at times what constitutes the truth. The everyday film footage is skilfully transformed with creative image editing and absurd ideas about the "threat to the West". In this way, an entertaining, media-critical parody has resulted about our opinion of the Middle East.

Special Mention of the National Jury

"Wegzaubern" from Betina Kuntzsch

Special Mention Sound Design

"Cipka" (Pussy) from Renata Gąsiorowska

The timing in this story is excellent in terms of both the moving images and the music. Skilfully linked with gentle humour, this thoughtful film was worthy of a special mention from us. It is borne by the various equivocal sound levels, which never slip into the obscene. In this way, Volodymyr Antonic, Ewa Bogusz and Wiesław Nowak have provided a humorous and uninhibited sound track.

Minister of Fine Arts Promotion Prize - National Competition

„The wide horizon“, Falk Schuster (Germany, 2015)

What did the people of Saxony like to do most on holidays when the Berlin Wall was still up? Lavishly produced in retroscope, each shot first had to be filmed on video with extras and then redrawn frame by frame. In this way, despite the minimalism of the animated holiday trip, the film seems more authentic than many historic documents. With its virtuoso graphic precision and reduction to the essential, the young filmmaker has succeeded in creating a small but fine aesthetic masterpiece that, at the same time, soon takes the viewers back 30 years in its 4-engined time machine.

Golden Horseman Animated Film - International Competition

In a personal style, we follow the life of the main character in the film. The director changes the reality whenever he wants to by stretching the line between everyday actions and fiction.The film makes us think about our own life by taking us on a trip down the protagonist’s memory lane. It is a struggle between inner solitude and the external world. Are we in control of our own life or not?

Golden Horseman Animated Film - National Competition

"Amelia & Duarte" from Alice Guimarães and Mónica Santos (Germany/Portugal, 2015)

With their skilfully subtle use of the most diverse animation techniques, the two female directors manage to audio-visualise the melancholic surmounting of a couple’s now lost love – and that in a highly impressive manner. Playful and bubbling over with lots of creative ideas, we excitedly follow the two lovers in their many attempts and new ways to circumvent that which has been forgotten with the loss of their love. An impressive animated film.

Golden Horseman Short Fiction Film - International Competition

"Over" from Jörn Threlfall (United Kingdom, 2015)

The director turns a seemingly simple event into a monument for all the anonymous victims of an ongoing phenomenon. As if referring to our instant media updates front, it uses time markers to make the viewer perceive our fragmented understanding towards the reality. It is a way of storytelling where bits of information become misleading and outward objects can block our sight, guiding us to self-simulated ignorance that can terminate in a crucial surrealist catastrophe. However, it all falls into place and shows us that we are part of what is going on around us and we cannot close our eyes or hearts.

Golden Horseman Short Fiction Film - National Competition

"On Air" from Robert Nacken (Germany, 2015)

"The fact is: The capitalist system is at the abyss." – This sentence alone deserves a prize, just as much as the switching between revolutionary pathos and romantic bard songs. And that both the egocentric vanity of the young revolutionaries as indeed the – as though in passing – "popular attention economy of marginality" of the culture broadcasters are taken for a ride here really jolts the horse of the Golden Horseman of the apocalypse into action.

Golden Horseman of the Youth Jury - International Competition

"Amerika" from Aleksandra Terpińska (Poland, 2015)

 A deep friendship, a dream of freedom and the shared desire to escape their sobering and broken-down everyday life.
The editing, the music and the performance of the two main actresses complement them in a captivating manner to create an unstoppable maelstrom of tension and uncertainty. Drawn into a catastrophe in their search for a different world, all that remains behind is the American nightmare.

Golden Horseman of the Youth Jury - National Competition

"Feet First" from Jonas Ludwig Walter (Germany, 2016)

The protagonists encounter together and yet separately the powerlessness in the face of the (in)calculable. Rich in detail, with pointedly minimalist dialogue and superb acting performances, insights are given into a life we are not able to swim away from. And all at once after the lawn mowing, the rosemary is watered next in order to maintain the everyday routine as we seem to wait endlessly.

Golden Horseman Sound Design – International & National Competition

"#YA" from Ygor Gama and Florencia Rovlich (Argentina/Chile/Germany, 2015)

Cinematically realistic sounds are presented as though we have never heard them before. The auditory layer commands rare depths and tonal beauty, while the music and sounds demonstrate an extraordinary emotional and haptic strength. The film which unites excellent cinematic skills with an imaginative quality of a unique kind is #YA.

ARTE Short Film Prize - International Competition

"Over" from Jörn Threlfall (Great Britain, 2015)

Nine shots without dialogue record the formidable occurrences in reverse chronological order – a filmic concept that poses questions and riddles. The cleverly conceived short film is a tension-filled virtuoso piece which stirs us with its subject and inspires us to reflect. The filmmaker has succeeded in creating an extraordinary piece in terms of both the form and content.

Golden Horseman of the Audience - National Competition

"Simply the worst" from Johannes Kürschner and Franz Müller (Germany, 2015)

Golden Horseman of the Audience - International Competition

“Daphné ou la belle plante” from Sébastien LaudenbachAND Sylvain Derosne (France, 2014)

DEFA Promotion Prize Animation - National Competition

Frankfurter Str. 99a from Evgenia Gostrer

Reduced colours, omissions and just a few brush strokes unite the form and subject – with coffee stains and blobs of jam one and the same. Using simple means, a story unfolds dealing with the rituals of the everyday, with the brief moments of happiness to be found in routines, with the common friendship between man and beast. That which is beyond the ordinary here is, by contrast, the director’s talent, who has created a special miniature of everyday life that utilises its own fitting audio-visual language for the protagonist’s story.

Audience Award Mitteldeutsche Filmnacht

„Für dich bei mir“ from Clemens Beier (Deutschland, 2015)

Special Mentions of the International Jury

„Le Park“ from Randa Maroufi (France, 2015)

The director has developed a new and unique way to communicate with the audience with a minimum of action. The director achieves a maximum of effect and manages to comment quietly on an aspect of our modern society.

“Daphné ou la belle plante” from Sébastien Laudenbach and Sylvain Derosne (France, 2014)

To tell a story is something which can be done in many ways. It is great to see that there are directors who are looking for new ways of telling a story. In this film, we as the viewers have to create and interpret what we see and hear into our own truth.

Special Mentions of the National Jury

„Die Ballade von Ella Plummhoff“ from Barbara Kronenberg (Germany, 2015)

With its consistently headstrong audio-visual style and highly sensual manner, this film descends into the wistful depths of its main female character’s awakening sexuality and in its own wilfully comic way reveals a kaleidoscope of whimsical, melancholy roles presented with complete love of detail for small gestures. The director’s skills with the actors, and especially the way she lets the two main female characters interact with each other so well permits the audience a close intimacy with them.

„Simply the Worst“ from Franz Müller & Johannes Kürschner (Germany, 2015)

With truly subversive power, the two directors have created an extremely funny original fireworks display of anarchistic humour in their film full of audio-visual energy. Doing so, they assume the main roles in their own piece, ones they act out in complete playfulness, while demonstrating how they are right up to date both formally and linguistically. Whimsical, surreal moments, an extremely rich soundtrack and cross-border translation achievements round off the film in its entirety.

Special Mention of the Youth Jury in the National Competition

"Life in Rugged" from Simon Schnellmann (Germany, 2015)

 Prestige at the toilet has never been such fun. A uniquely brilliant joke, amazingly creative idea and stylistically assured animation. And that right on the DOT.

Special Mention of the Youth Jury in the International Competition

"#YA" from Igor Gama and Florencia Rovlich (Argentina, Chile, Germany, 2015)

This film, which is borne by its breathless music and rapid editing, is a passionate portrait of the resistance from a networked generation which leaves it up to the viewers to seek out the common ground in the global protest movements.

Minister of Fine Arts Promotion Prize - National Competition

PEIN by Ulrike Vahl (Germany 2014)

This calm film is concerned with the last things in life, the confrontation with the end. In the cold light of the mortuary, people bid farewell and Anton who works there is unable to find his peace anymore between the dead and the living. The filmmakers keeps her view sharply focused here. With everything reduced, concrete, authentic and credible in an artistic way. And no escape is possible from the suffering of this man. The Minister of Fine Arts Promotion Prize goes to "Suffering" from Ulrike Vahl.

Golden Horseman Animated Film - International Competition

FUGA NA WIOLOCZELĘ, TRĄBKĘ I PEJZAŻ by Jerzy Kucia (Poland 2014)

This short movie is a bold statement to the craft of animation film. In a time where the cinema medium is often subordinate to phones and tablets, this is a genuine love letter to the big screen. The filmmaker dares you to embark, all senses in alert, into a hypnotizing journey, immersed under various layers of images and sound. A stimulating filmic experience that breaches through time and space, allowing you to create your own.

Golden Horseman Animated Film - National Competition

DÄWIT by David Jansen (Germany 2015)

The film narrates its story full of myths and metaphors with an existential force. The form and content create a unity when the archaic odyssey of a foundling takes its course in an expressionist composition reminiscent of a woodcut. We experience hate, suffering and ultimately forgiveness and reconciliation at the side of the hero. A gripping piece with the unmistakable personal style of an artist.

Golden Horseman Short Fiction Film - International Competition

SEM CORAÇÃO by Nara Normande and Tião (Brazil 2014)

Solar and deep, this delicate still fiercely efficient coming of age film threads into uncharted territory. A world of raw beauty and stark mysteries, that contributes to breathe life into a story bearing the power of a myth. Through this unique cinematic experience emerges powerful landscape that shapes fully fleshed characters, rituals of love that transcends the age of the young cast and desire that we, as spectators, are not far from.

Golden Horseman Short Fiction Film - National Competition

WE WILL STAY IN TOUCH ABOUT IT by Jan Zabeil (Germany 2014)

We are witnesses to a fearful encounter in an abandoned landscape. The boredom travelling along a road through the steppes turns into confusion and shock. With the collision being cultural. The acting, camera and sound succeed in making this eerie constellation vivid because it can be experienced. And even if the landscape is left behind again to roast in the sun at the end, it is clear that this encounter will not be without consequences.

Golden Horseman of the Youth Jury - International Competition

REIZIGERS IN DE NACHT by Ena Sendijarevic (Netherlands 2013)

An encapsulated, monotone, impersonal world which almost imperceptibly turns into a stage. A familiarisation occurs in which no words are needed, with dance and looks forming the language. The outstanding performance by the actors move the plot along until the breakout from the cold, neon-lit cosmos

Golden Horseman of the Youth Jury - National Competition

EAT MY DREAM by Jessica Dürwald (Germany 2015)

The film collects patterns and textures in calm, cleverly selected shots. It convinces through the interplay of image and sound. The colour and visual composition permit the audience to discover beauty in what is in fact an oppressive subject. The film follows its own unique rhythm and encourages us to consider thinking more about the theme, yet not in a moralising way.

Golden Horseman Sound Design – International & National Competition

FOLEY ARTIST by Toni Bestard (Spain 2013)

This film is a declaration of love. To the cinema, to storytelling, to a person.
But especially it is a romantic bow to the object of this prize: Film sound. And in this regard it may even seem as though it was made specifically for this category – almost. But in fact it demonstrates the importance of sound in film in its charming and equally perfect technical manner.

ARTE Short Film Prize - International Competition

DÄWIT by David Jansen (Germany 2015)

An intensive and impressive film has been created which draws the viewers into its plot. Using an animated woodcut technique, a visual equivalent has been found which envelopes the protagonists in darkness. The filmmaker convinces with a search full of depravations for identity, which he connects with the motifs of wolves in nature, the faceless vortex of the modern city and the appearance of an angel. Yet it is only through forgiveness that the protagonist ultimately finds salvation, as indeed do the viewers, who are captivated by the relentless power of the story and the images, before they are released back out into the world beyond the cinema with a glimmer of hope.

Golden Horseman of the Audience - National Competition

BETONFRASS by Karsten Kranzusch (Germany 2013)

Golden Horseman of the Audience - International Competition

FOLEY ARTIST by Toni Bestard (Spain 2013)

DEFA Promotion Prize Animation - National Competition

ALIENATION by Laura Lehmus (Germany 2014)

Intensely funny and true at one and the same time, this short film brings the horrors of adolescent existence between childhood and adulthood to a head as the body and mind change to the point of becoming grotesque. Documentary sound recordings of teenagers of both genders in puberty emerge from ravishingly horrific creatures here: Or simply from an "alien nation" – one we have all belonged to at one time.

Special Mentions of the International Jury

DEUX AMIS by Natalia Chernysheva (France 2014)

A sensitive humanity piece in the animal reign, this delightly playful film is perfectly formed.

JUKE BOX by Ilan Klipper (France 2014)

This bold yet intimate film of a man locked in a closed loop skips in your head, over and over.

Special Mention of the National Jury

BETONFRASS by Karsten Kranzusch (Germany 2013)

Special Mention of the International Youth Jury

HOLE by Martin Edralin (Canada 2014)

An intimate and sensitive insight into the life of a man is revealed. The film captivates especially with its authenticity, which is also shown in the selection of the main actor, whose acting performance and courage are enthralling. By dealing openly with the sexual needs of a handicapped person, the film succeeds in drawing our attention to a rarely discussed subject.

Special Mention of the National Youth Jury

DAS SATANISCHE DICKICHT – EINS by Willy Hans (Germany 2014)

Unsettling situations come together to form an harmonious overall picture. Using simple means, the director succeeds in creating multilayered characters. With consistent, calm and well considered scenes, snapshots of a family are revealed to us. Simmering conflicts seem to be about to explode at any moment, yet in the end the viewer remains behind in the thicket

Regional Filmnight - Audience[nsbp]Award

THE JOURNEY OF THE BEASTS by Sebastian Linda (Germany 2014)