Jan 26, 2022
Berlinale 2022: Berlinale Documentary Award – Funded by rbb

The Berlin International Film Festival has long been committed to the diversity of documentary forms. A distinct award for the best documentary film was launched in 2017. As of 2020, the Berlinale Documentary Award, endowed with 40,000 Euros in prize money, will be sponsored by public broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb).

In total, 18 documentary forms from the sections Berlinale Special, Encounters, Panorama, Forum and Generation are nominated for the Berlinale Documentary Award. The prize money will be shared by the director and the producer of the winning film. The award will be presented during the official Award Ceremony at the Berlinale Palast on February 16, 2022.

A three-member jury will pick the winner:

Wang Bing (China)

Wang Bing began his career as an independent filmmaker in 1999. Discovered in 2003, Tiexi qu (West of the Tracks), a documentary work of more than nine hours, has garnered great success internationally. In addition to his feature documentaries San zimei (Three sisters, 2012) and Feng ai (‘Til Madness Do us Part, 2013), he appeared in the Berlinale section Forum with Ta’ang in 2016 and went on to win the Golden Leopard with Mrs. Fang in 2017. His latest documentary Dead Souls premiered at Cannes in 2018. Acclaimed by critics and recognised as one of the most important Chinese artists, documentary makers and film directors of his time, he has been honoured by retrospectives of his entire oeuvre in major museums, such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris, at the Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique or at Documenta.

Rana Eid (Lebanon)

Rana Eid is a Lebanese sound designer and filmmaker. Since 2003, she has been working on various Lebanese films, before opening DB STUDIOS for audio post-production with composer Nadim Mishlawi in 2006. Since then she has been working on films in the region and around the world teaming up with established filmmakers as well as emerging talents. In 2019, she worked on two Oscar nominated films, The Cave (2019) and Honeyland (2019). Most recently, she worked as the sound designer for the World Cinema Fund film You Will Die at 20 (2019) and Memory Box (2021), which ran in the Competition at the Berlinale 2021. As a filmmaker, she directed her first feature documentary Panoptic (2017) which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival.

Susanne Schüle (Germany)

Susanne Schüle is a German cinematographer and has been making feature-length documentaries for 25 years, winning awards at many international festivals. She received the award for Best Cinematography for Absolut Warhola at the International Documentary Film Festival in Leipzig in 2001 and the Grimme Award in 2003. The short documentary Akkordeonspielerin won the German short film award in 2007. For Himmelverbot, she received the Best Cinematography Award at the DocuArt Festival in Bucharest in 2015 and her current camera work for Kühe auf dem Dach (Cows on the Roof) won the Most innovative feature film at the Vision du Réel in Nyon in 2020. In addition to her work as a cinematographer, Susanne Schüle is a professor at the Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf.

The following 18 films are nominated for the Berlinale Documentary Award, sponsored by public broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb):

Berlinale Special

Eine deutsche Partei (A German Party)
Germany
by Simon Brückner
World premiere / documentary form

Encounters

À vendredi, Robinson (See You Friday, Robinson)
France / Switzerland / Iran
by Mitra Farahani
World premiere /documentary form

Journal d'Amérique (American Journal)
France
by Arnaud des Pallières
World premiere / documentary form

Mutzenbacher
Austria
by Ruth Beckermann
World premiere / documentary form

Panorama

Dreaming Walls
Belgium / France / USA / Netherlands / Sweden
by Amélie van Elmbt, Maya Duverdier
World premiere / documentary form

Myanmar Diaries
Netherlands / Myanmar / Norway
by The Myanmar Film Collective
World premiere / documentary form

Nelly & Nadine
Sweden / Belgium / Norway
by Magnus Gertten
World premiere / documentary form

Nel mio nome (Into My Name)
Italy
by Nicolò Bassetti
World premiere / documentary form

No U-Turn (
Nigeria / South Africa / France / Germany
by Ike Nnaebue
World premiere / documentary form

Forum

Für die Vielen – Die Arbeiterkammer Wien (For the Many – The Vienna Chamber of Labour)
Austria
by Constantin Wulff
World premiere / documentary form

Geographies of Solitude
Canada
by Jacquelyn Mills
World premiere / documentary form

Mis dos voces (My Two Voices)
Canada
by Lina Rodriguez
World premiere / documentary form

Scala
Thailand
by Ananta Thitanat
World premiere / documentary form

Terra que marca (Striking Land)
Portugal
by Raul Domingues
World premiere / documentary form

The United States of America
USA
by James Benning
World premiere / documentary form

Generation Kplus

Terykony (Boney Piles)
Ukraine
by Taras Tomenko
World premiere / documentary form

Generation 14plus

Alis
Colombia / Chile / Romania
by Clare Weiskopf, Nicolas van Hemelryck
World premiere / documentary form

Kind Hearts
Belgium
by Olivia Rochette, Gerard-Jan Claes
World premiere / documentary form

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January 26, 2022