The Goethe-Institut has been awarding outstanding film work with the Documentary Film Prize annually since 2003. The Goethe-Institut thus honours the importance of documentary films that tell real stories, deal with a wide range of topics and social realities and provide an occasion for dialogue and constructive debate worldwide. Each year, the winning film is send around the world.
Since
2022 the prize has been awarded on a rotating basis at important German documentary film festivals,
the DOK.fest Munich, the DOK Leipzig Festival, the Duisburg Film Week
and the Kassel Dokfest. With the prize, the Goethe-Institut recognizes a
feature-length German documentary film from the official selection.
In 2025, the Goethe-Institut Documentary Film Prize will be awarded at the 42nd Kassel Dokfest.
The Documentary Film Prize includes prize money of 2,000€. The Goethe-Institut also acquires the film’s worldwide non-commercial screening rights so that it can be shown at all institutes and cinematic partner institutions. In addition, the Goethe-Institut provides subtitles in eight languages, making the film accessible to audiences around the world. In addition to aesthetic aspects, the decisive factor for the selection is that the film has reference to Germany in conjunction with an intercultural or global perspective so that it can be used worldwide and contribute to socio-political discourses in the numerous host countries of the Goethe-Institut.
The jury consists of the previous year’s winner – if they are not
entered in the current competition – and two film experts from the
Goethe-Institut.
PREVIOUS RECIPIENTS OF THE DOCUMENTARY FILM PRIZE
2024: REPRODUCTION (Katharina Pethke)
2023: EINHUNDERTVIER (Jonathan Schörnig)
2022: LOVE, DEUTSCHMARKS AND DEATH (Cem Kaya)
2021: REPUBLIC OF SILENCE (Diana El Jeiroudi)
2020: THE GUARDIAN (Martina Priessner)
2019: IN THE NAME OF SCHEHERAZADE OR THE FIRST BEER GARDEN IN TEHRAN (Narges Kalhor)
2018: EXIT (Karen Winther)
2017: WILDES HERZ (Charly Hübner, Sebastian Schultz)
2016: TO BE A TEACHER (Jakob Schmidt)
2015: OVERGAMES (Lutz Dammbeck)
2014: CONCRETE LOVE: THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE BÖHM FAMILY (Maurizius Staerkle-Drux)
2013: LAND IN SICHT (Judith Keil and Antje Kruska)
2012: FORGET ME NOT (David Sieveking)
2011: PEAK (Hannes Lang)
2010: HOW TO MAKE A BOOK WITH STEIDL (Gereon Wetze and Jörg Adolph)
2009: SHANGHAI FICTION (Julia Albrecht and Busso von Müller)
2008: ZULETZT BEFREIT MICH DOCH DER TOD (Beate Middeke)
2007: THE HALFMOON FILES (Philip Scheffner)
2006: DIE UNZERBRECHLICHEN (Dominik Wessely)
2005: MEIN BRUDER - WE’LL MEET AGAIN (Thomas Heise)
2004: WOLFF VON AMERONGEN: DID HE COMMIT BANKRUPTCY OFFENCES? (Gerhard Friedl)
2003: FÜR DEN SCHWUNG SIND SIE ZUSTÄNDIG (Margarete Fuchs)