Award Winners of the 38 Filmfest Dresden
17 Prizes Worth €72,500 Awarded // Golden Horsemen for PARADAÏZ (Canada), WATER SPORTS (The Philippines), PROCRASTINATION YOGA (Germany), ABORTION PARTY (Spain) and more
This Saturday evening, the award winners of the 38 Filmfest Dresden were announced in the National, International and Central German Competitions. At the official awards ceremony in the Filmtheater Schauberg festival cinema, a total of 10 Golden Horsemen and seven special prizes worth €72,500 were awarded. The eight juries and the audiences chose their favourites from the 65 short films screened in the three competition sections.
A selection of the prizes awarded is provided hereunder. A complete overview of all 17 awards and prizes is available here.
The Saxon Film Promotion Prize, which is endowed with €20,000 and sponsored by the Saxon State Ministry for Science, Culture and Tourism, went to the animated film GAÏA by Gwenola Heck (Germany, 2025) from the National Competition.
The Golden Horseman Short Film for the best short film in the National Competition was won by BLEIFREI 95 from Emma Hütt and Tina Muffler (Germany/Austria, 2025), while WATER SPORTS from Whammy Alcazaren (The Philippines, 2024) received the award in the International Competition. The Golden Horseman Animated Film for the best animation work was awarded to PROCRASTINATION YOGA from Paulina Martyna Ziolkowska (world premiere, National Competition), as well as to PARADAÏZ by Matea Radic (Canada, 2025) in the International Competition. PARADAÏZ was also honoured with a special mention by the jury of the “fully political” – Short Film Award for Democratic Culture.
In the Central German Competition, the Golde Horseman was awarded to UNBEMERKT VERSTORBEN from Alina Cyranek (Germany, 2026). The film celebrated its world premiere at Filmfest Dresden.
The two youth juries awarded QUI PART À LA CHASSE from Lea Favre (Switzerland, International Competition) and BAD LUCK from Jan Eilhardt (Germany, 2025, National Competition). Moreover, Jan Eilhardt received a special mention for his film BAD LUCK from the jury of the LUCA Film Award for GenderEquality.
The audiences also awarded prizes in all three competition sections: In the National Competition, BLOB AND THE WOLF from Georg Kästle and Valentin Bolte (Germany, 2025) was the lucky winner and also went on to receive a special mention from the youth jury in the National Competition. In the International Competition, the French production S THE WOLF from Sameh Alaa was awarded. While in the Central German Competition, COLD CALL from Stefanie Schroeder (Germany, 2025) received the most votes.
The seven special prizes and awards were received by the following films, among others:
The “fully political” – Short Film Award for Democratic Culture (€3,000), sponsored by the Saxon State Ministry for Social Welfare, Health and Social Cohesion went to ABORTION PARTY from Julia Mellen (Spain, 2025), further to it receiving a special mention by the youth jury in the International Competition.
The DEFA Promotion Prize Animation (€3,000) was awarded to Mikael Lindskov Jacobsen for CITY IN THE FOX (Germany, 2026), which celebrated its world premiere in Dresden.
The LUCA Film Award for GenderEquality (€2,000), sponsored by the LAG Jungen- und Männerarbeit Sachsen, the Genderkompetenzzentrum Sachsen and the LAG Queeres Netzwerk Sachsen associations, was received by EL REGALO (THE GIFT) from Lara Izagirre Garizurieta (Spain, 2025).
The complete list of all the award winners, together with the jury statements and prize-sponsoring institutions, is provided here.
All of the award-winning films are being screened on Sunday 19 April 2026 in the Filmtheater Schauburg festival cinema, the Programmkino Ost and Kino im Kasten cinemas, as well as in the Zentralkino cinema.