Sev­en nom­i­na­tions for four DFFB Films at First Steps in 7 cat­e­gories

Journal,

Great news: Four DFFB grad­u­a­tion films have been nom­i­nat­ed this year for one of the pres­ti­gious FIRST STEPS Awards — in the cat­e­gories Fea­ture Length Film, Doc­u­men­tary Film, Screen­play, the Michael Ball­haus Award, and the Götz George New­com­er Award.

The fol­low­ing films are nom­i­nat­ed:

The fea­ture film THE GOOD SISTER by Sarah Miro Fis­ch­er has received nom­i­na­tions in three cat­e­gories: Fea­ture Length Film, Screen­play (Agnes Petersen), and the Michael Ball­haus Award for Best Cin­e­matog­ra­phy (Sel­ma von Pol­heim Gravesen). The film tells the sto­ry of the intense bond between Rose and her old­er broth­er Sam. When Sam is accused of rape and Rose is called to tes­ti­fy as a wit­ness, their sib­ling rela­tion­ship is put to a severe test — as is Rose’s moral com­pass.

THE GOOD SISTER cel­e­brat­ed its world pre­miere in the Panora­ma sec­tion of this year’s Berli­nale and is cur­rent­ly tour­ing suc­cess­ful­ly at inter­na­tion­al fes­ti­vals, includ­ing San Sebastián.

UNGEDULD DES HERZENS by Lau­ro Cress has been nom­i­nat­ed in the cat­e­gories Fea­ture Length Film and the Götz George New­com­er Award (Lad­i­na von Frisching). At its cen­ter is a young Bun­deswehr sol­dier who, out of shame, pity, and a deep need for recog­ni­tion, feigns roman­tic feel­ings for a par­a­lyzed woman — even giv­ing her hope of recov­ery. But as her grow­ing mis­trust clash­es with his increas­ing obses­sion to “save” her, they are drawn into a dan­ger­ous spi­ral that near­ly ends in tragedy.

The film, like THE GOOD SISTER, was pro­duced as part of the Leucht­stoff ini­tia­tive by rbb and Medi­en­board Berlin-Bran­den­burg. Already at the Max Ophüls Preis Film Fes­ti­val in Saar­brück­en, UNGEDULD DES HERZENS won the main award as well as both act­ing prizes.

The mul­ti-award-win­ning film ABODE OF DAWN by Kristi­na Shtu­bert, also a Leucht­stoff project, is nom­i­nat­ed in the Doc­u­men­tary Film cat­e­go­ry. The film fol­lows the dream of a new soci­ety deep in the Siber­ian taiga. It pre­miered at DOK Leipzig 2024 and went on to win the Next:Wave Award at CPH:DOX as well as the Ursu­la Bick­le Foun­da­tion Award at dokka:12 in Karl­sruhe.

Last but not least, MY BOYFRIEND EL FASCISTA by Matthias Lint­ner is also nom­i­nat­ed in the Doc­u­men­tary Film cat­e­go­ry. The film sheds light on how per­son­al rela­tion­ships can suf­fer under polit­i­cal ten­sions: when the direc­tor and his part­ner col­lide over their oppos­ing polit­i­cal views, their love is put to the ulti­mate test. This co-pro­duc­tion with Helios Sus­tain­able Films and Mariq­ui­tas Film has already screened at inter­na­tion­al fes­ti­vals such as Bolzano and Hot Docs Toron­to.