The Berlinale has been even more committed to supporting the next generation of film makers since 2006, when it introduced the Best First Feature Award. The award is endowed with 50,000 Euros, donated by the GWFF (Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung von Film- und Fernsehrecht), a society dedicated to safeguarding film and television rights. The prize money is to be split between the producer and the director of the winning film. Additionally, the director will be awarded with a high-quality viewfinder as both a useful instrument and memorable trophy.

The heads of the Competition, Panorama, Forum, Generation, and Perspektive Deutsches Kino sections have nominated a total of 18 directorial debuts from their programmes. The winners will be announced at the official award ceremony in the Berlinale Palast on February 15.

A three-person jury will decide on the Best First Feature Award:

Nancy Buirski (USA)

US native Nancy Buirski is the founder and former director of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, North Carolina. Her directorial works include not only the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning documentary The Loving Story, but also Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq, a portrait of a ballet dancer, which is having its international premiere at the 64^th Berlinale. She is currently producing narrative adaptations of The Loving Story and The Donner Party and is directing Endangered adapted from the novel of the same name. Nancy Buirski began her career as a photographer and photo editor for The New York Times.

Valeria Golino (Italy)

Italian actress and director Valeria Golino started her career in 1984. In 1986, she won Venice’s Volpi Cup as leading actress for Francesco Maselli’s A Tale of Love. She worked with directors like Barry Levinson, Sean Penn, Gabriele Salvatores, Silvio Soldini, and won the Silver Ribbon for Emanuele Crialese’s Respiro and the David di Donatello Award for Antonio Capuano’s Mario's War. She starred in several Berlinale films, among them the Competition film Quiet Chaos in 2008. In 2010, she had her directorial debut with the short movie Armandino e il Madre. Her first long feature film Miele was screened in “Un certain regard” at the Cannes Film Festival 2013. Miele won numerous awards all over the world, including a nomination for the European Film Award in the category “European Discovery”.

Hernán Musaluppi (Argentina)

Argentine Hernán Musaluppi began his film career in the nineties and is one of the most successful producers in his country today. Many of his films have been screened at the Berlinale, for example Un Mundo Misterioso (2011), Gigante (2009) and El custodio (2006) in Competition, Medianeras in Panorama 2011, and Aguas Verdes in Forum 2009. His other films include Los Dueños, 3, and Whisky. Hernán Musaluppi is chairman of the largest producers' association in Argentina, and his book “El cine y lo que queda de mí” was published in 2012.

The following 18 films have qualified for the Best First Feature Award:

Competition (3)

´71 - United Kingdom  

By Yann Demange,

With Jack O’Connell, Sean Harris, Richard Dormer

Historia del miedo (History of Fear) – Argentina / Uruguay / Germany / France

By Benjamin Naishtat

With Jonathan Da Rosa, César Bordón, Mara Bestelli, Claudia Cantero, Mirella Pascual

Macondo - Austria

By Sudabeh Mortezai

With Ramasan Minkailova, Aslan Elbiev, Kheda Gazieva

Panorama (4)

Güeros - Mexico

By Alonso Ruizpalacios

With Tenoch Huerta, Sebastián Aguirre, Leonardo Ortizgris, Ilse Salas

Patardzlebi (Brides) – Georgia / France

By Tinatin Kajrishvili

With Mari Kitia, Giorgi Maskharashvili

Things People Do - USA

By Saar Klein

With Wes Bentley, Jason Isaacs, Vinessa Shaw, Haley Bennett

Viharsarok (Land of Storms) – Hungary / Germany

By Àdám Czászi

With Andras Sütő, Ádám Varga, Sebastian Urzendowsky

Ye (The Night) - People’s Republic of China

By Zhou Hao

With Zhou Hao, Liu Xiao Xiao, Li Jin Kang, Zhou Feng Qi

Forum (4)

Chilla (40 Days of Silence) – Usbekistan / Tajikistan / Netherlands / Germany / France  

By Saodat Ismailova

With Rushana Sadikova, Saodat Rahimova, Farida Olimovava

Ich will mich nicht künstlich aufregen (Asta Upset) - Germany

By Max Linz

With Sarah Ralfs, Pushpendra Singh, Barbara Heynen, Hannelore Hoger, René Schappach

Los Ángeles – Mexico / Germany  

By Damian John Harper

With Mateo Bautista Matías, Lidia García García, Marcos Rodríguez Ruiz, Daniel Bautista Gutiérrez

She’s Lost Control - USA

By Anja Marquardt

With Brooke Bloom, Marc Menchaca

Generation (4)

Atlántida – Argentina / France

By Inés María Barrionuevo

With Melissa Romero, Sol Zavala, Florencia Decall, Guillermo Pfening

Ciencias Naturales – Argentina / France 

By Matías Lucchesi

With Paula Hertzog, Paola Barrientos, Alvin Astorga, Sergio Boris, Arturo Goetz

Hitono Nozomino Yorokobiyo (Joy of Man's Desiring) - Japan 

By Masakazu Sugita

With Ayane Ohmori, Riku Ohishi, Naoko Yoshimoto, Koichiro Nishi

Violet – Belgium / Netherlands

By Bas Devos

With César De Sutter, Raf Walschaerts, Koen De Sutter

Perspektive Deutsches Kino (2)

Hüter meines Bruders - Germany

By Maximilian Leo

With Sebastian Zimmler, Nadja Bobyleva, Robert Finster

Lamento - Germany

By Jöns Jönsson

With Gunilla Röör, Hendrik Kraft, Björn Andersson, Elin Söderquist, Sandra Huldt, William Björklund, Andreas Kundler, Ebba Lindgren, Simon J. Berger, Inga Landgré