Feb 18, 2021
The 2021 International Short Film Jury

The 20 films selected for Berlinale Shorts 2021 compete for the following awards: Golden Bear for Best Short Film (the winner of the Golden Bear qualifies for being eligible for next year’s short film Oscar), Silver Bear Jury Prize (Short Film) and the Berlin Short Film Candidate for the European Film Awards (the winning film is the Berlin candidate for the category “European Short Film”).

The three members of the International Short Film Jury will decide on the award winners, which will be announced during the Industry Event on March 4, 2021.

The members of the 2021 International Short Film Jury are:

Basim Magdy (Egypt) – Artist
Through subtle humor, psychedelic plays of colour and fancifully elaborate titles, Basim Magdy creates surreal worlds and narratives. His work includes film, photography, painting, works on paper, and installations. Magdy has shown his films at Tate Modern, Locarno Film Festival, New York Film Festival and IFFR Rotterdam, to name a few. He has had solo and group shows all over the world, and his works are in the collections of MoMa, Guggenheim, Centre Pompidou, the Sharjah Art Foundation and Koç Foundation Collection (ARTER), amongst others. He was selected Artist of the Year by Deutsche Bank and won the New:Vision Award of the CPH:DOX, the Curtas Vila do Conde Experimental Film Award and the Abraaj Art Prize Dubai.

Christine A. Maier (Austria) - Cinematographer
Christine A. Maier’s cinematography has been featured at the Berlinale in films by Henner Winckler, Amie Siegel, Jamie Babbit and Jasmila Žbanić, whose film Grbavica won the Golden Bear in 2006. Quo vadis, Aida?, her most recent cooperation with Žbanić, which has already received multiple awards, celebrated its premiere in 2020 in the competition at the Venice International Film Festival. Venice is also where Maier’s career began 23 years ago, with her first feature-length fiction film Northern Skirts, directed by Barbara Albert. Just two years later, she was awarded the Österreichischer Förderpreis für Filmkunst. In 2018, she received the Austrian Film Award for Best Camera for Mademoiselle Paradis by Barbara Albert. In 2020, she was honoured with the FC Gloria Award and the Berlin Academy of the Arts Award for Film and Media Art.

Sebastian Urzendowsky (Germany) – Actor
Sebastian Urzendowsky was discovered as a child actor and played in numerous films prior to studying acting. In 2006, he received international attention as the protagonist in Pingpong by Matthias Luthardt, which celebrated its premiere at Semaine de la Critique in Cannes. He also worked with Peter Weir, Mia Hansen-Løve and performed in many films that were presented in the Berlinale Competition, such as Der Felsen (A Map of the Heart) by Dominik Graf (2002), Lichter (Distant Lights) by Hans-Christian Schmid (2003), Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters) by Stefan Ruzowitzky (2007) as well as Jessica Forever by Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel which screened in Panorama in 2019. In 2010, he was named Best Young Actor at the Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis. In 2017, he received his second Grimme Award for his portrayal in Mitten in Deutschland: NSU - Die Täter by Christian Schwochow.

Press Office
February 18, 2021