The Berlin International Film Festival is very committed to documentaries and diverse documentary forms, as evident from the programmes of the different sections, initiatives and special presentations, as well as the European Film Market (EFM). In recent years, the number of long and short documentaries screening at the festival has continually increased. In 2018, the Berlinale has published a brochure titled “Focus on Docs” for the very first time. It gives an overview of the many documentary film activities at the festival, and sparks interest in the films and events at the upcoming Berlinale.

This year, for the third time, the Berlin International Film Festival will present the Glashütte Original – Documentary Award, which was established in 2017 thanks to the support of watch manufacturer Glashütte Original from Saxony.

The Glashütte Original – Documentary Award is endowed with € 50,000, funded by Glashütte Original. The prize money will be split between the film’s director and producer. A total of 17 documentary entries from the current programmes of the Panorama, Forum, Generation and Perspektive Deutsches Kino sections and the special presentation Culinary Cinema are nominated for the Glashütte Original – Documentary Award.

The prize will be presented during the official Award Ceremony in the Berlinale Palast on February 16. In addition to the prize money, Glashütte Original will also provide the trophy, which will be finely crafted in the company’s manufactory in Saxony.

A three-member jury will pick the winner:

Maria Bonsanti (Italy)

Maria Bonsanti has established herself in the world of documentary film since 2000. For twelve years she worked for the Festival dei Popoli in Florence, where she was appointed co-director in 2011. She also frequently worked for the Locarno Festival, where she coordinated, for instance, the Play Forward section in 2006 and 2007. From 2012 to 2017, Bonsanti was artistic director of the documentary film festival Cinéma du réel at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Since 2017, she has been the programme director of Eurodoc, a leading training programme and network for over 1,000 documentary producers from more than 60 countries worldwide. Maria Bonsanti has already served on a number of festival juries around the globe.

Gregory Nava (USA)

Gregory Nava is a film director and writer noted for his string of ground-breaking Latino films. His films have played at Cannes, Sundance and San Sebastián. His 1984 film El Norte about undocumented workers from Guatemala in the United States was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Original Screenplay and has been named an “American Classic” by the Library of Congress. He has also written and directed the Oscar nominated My Family (1995), the Golden Globe nominated Selena (1997), and Bordertown, which was screened in Competition at the 2007 Berlinale. He co-wrote the Oscar winning Frida (2002) and executive produced American Family (2002 – 2004), the Emmy and Golden Globe nominated TV series about a Latino family in Los Angeles.

Maria Ramos (Brazil)

Director Maria Ramos studied documentary film in Amsterdam and has been a guest at festivals worldwide since the start of her career. Her films have received multiple awards. Justiça (Justice, 2004) won the Grand Prix at Visions du Réel and the Amnesty Award at CPH:DOX, among other prizes. In 2007, Juízo (Behave) premiered at the Locarno Festival and was honoured with the FIPRESCI Award at DOK Leipzig. Her most recent film O processo (The Trial) celebrated its world premiere in Panorama at the 2018 Berlinale, and received the Grand Prix at Visions du Réel, Best Film at DocumentaMadrid and the Audience Award at IndieLisboa. In 2013, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights honoured Maria Ramos with the Marek Nowicki Prize for her examination of the subject human rights.

The following 17 films are nominated for the Glashütte Original – Documentary Award:

Panorama (5)

Estou Me Guardando Para Quando O Carnaval Chegar (Waiting for the Carnival)

Brazil

by Marcelo Gomes

Searching Eva

Germany

by Pia Hellenthal

Système K (System K)

France

by Renaud Barret

Talking About Trees

France / Sudan / Germany / Chad / Qatar

by Suhaib Gasmelbari

Western Arabs

Denmark / Netherlands

by Omar Shargawi

Forum (4)

Chão

Brazil

by Camila Freitas

Erde (Earth)

Austria

by Nikolaus Geyrhalter

Heimat ist ein Raum aus Zeit (Heimat Is A Space in Time)

Germany

by Thomas Heise

Nos défaites (Our Defeats)

France

by Jean-Gabriel Périot

Generation (5)

Anbessa

USA / Italy

by Mo Scarpelli

Baracoa

Switzerland / USA / Spain

by Pablo Briones & The Moving Picture Boys

By the Name of Tania

Belgium / Netherlands

by Bénédicte Liénard & Mary Jiménez

Espero tua (re)volta (Your Turn)

Brazil

by Eliza Capai

Ringside

Germany / USA

by André Hörmann

Perspektive Deutsches Kino (2)

Born in Evin

Germany / Austria

by Maryam Zaree

Die Grube (The Pit)

Germany

by Hristiana Raykova

Culinary Cinema (1)

When Tomatoes Met Wagner

Greece

by Marianna Economou