The Best First Feature Award is given annually to the best debut film, considering films from the Competition, the Panorama, the Generation, the Forum or the Perspektive Deutsches Kino programmes. A three-member international jury chooses the winning film. The prize is endowed by the Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung von Film- und Fernsehrechten (GWFF), a society for safeguarding film and television rights. It is worth 50,000 euros and shared between the producer and the director of the awarded film. The winner will be announced during the official award ceremony in the Berlinale Palast. For the first time in 2008 the winners were awarded with a high-quality viewfinder as both a useful instrument and memorable trophy.

Best First Feature Award

endowed with 50.000 Euros founded by GWFF

On the Ice

by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean

Cara Marcous (producer), Andrew Okpeaha MacLean (director) with the "Viewfinder" and Frank Qutuq Irelan (actor) at the Photo Call

Lobende Erwähnung

The Guard

by John Michael McDonagh and

Die Vaterlosen (The Fatherless) by Marie Kreutzer

The Best First Feature Jury at the Berlinale 2011

Photo: Heimatfilm

Bettina Brokemper (Germany)

The producer learnt her profession at the University of Television and Film, Munich. In 2003 she founded the production company Heimatfilm with which she has celebrated national and international successes, most recently Bal (Honey, Golden Bear 2010). In 2001 she became established as managing director of Zentropa Entertainment in Cologne, co-producing films such as Lars von Trier's Dogville and Antichrist. Photo: Moti Kikayon

Assaf Gavron (Israel)

The bestselling Israeli author has published four novels, including the internationally acclaimed "Almost Dead". Gavron is singer and songwriter in the Israeli cult pop band "The Mouth and Foot" and was the chief writer of the award-winning computer game "Peacemaker". He was awarded a DAAD artists-in-Berlin fellowship in 2010 and last December was honoured with Israel's Prime Minister's Award for Authors. Photo: Theo Van de Sande

Michèle Ohayon (Morocco/Israel)

The director rose to fame in 1997 with the Oscar-nominated film Colors Straight Up. She has since celebrated repeated successes with her feature documentary works. She presented her film Steal A Pencil For Me at the 2008 Berlinale Special, followed in 2010 by S.O.S./State Of Security, a documentary about National Security challenges as viewed by the former US head of counter-terrorism Richard A. Clarke.