VIDEO GWFF Best First Feature Award | Meet the Jury | Berlinale 2018
Winning a prize with a debut film can really kickstart a career, so the GWFF Best First Feature Award is a promise for the future. So let us introduce you to our 2018 Jury Jonas Carpignano, Noa Regev and Călin Peter Netzer.
The winner of the GWFF Best First Feature Award will be announced at the Closing Gala on Saturday, February 24, beginning at 7.00 pm in the Berlinale Palast. The award ceremony will also be streamed live on the Berlinale Website.
The Berlinale has been even more committed to supporting the next generation of film makers since 2006, when it introduced the GWFF Best First Feature Award. The award is endowed with 50,000 Euros, funded by GWFF (Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung von Film- und Fernsehrecht), a society dedicated to safeguarding film and television rights. The prize money is to be split between the producer and the director of the winning film. Additionally, the director is awarded with a high-quality viewfinder as both a useful instrument and memorable trophy that should accompany them on their future road to success. Debut feature films from the sections Competition, Panorama, Forum, Generation or Perspektive Deutsches Kino compete for the award.
THE 2018 JURY
© Jody Lee Lipes
Jonas Carpignano (Italy)
Jonas Carpignano, who was born in 1984, grew up in New York City and Rome. His directorial debut, Mediterranea, premiered in the Semaine de la Critique at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015. Not only was it nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards, but it also won the Gotham Award for breakthrough director and a prize from the National Board of Review. His next feature film was also a huge success: A Ciambra, which had its premiere in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs in 2017, received the Europa Cinemas Label Award for best European film. It was also voted best Italian film of the year by the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists (SNCCI), earned Carpignano a nomination for best director at the Independent spirit awards and was chosen to represent Italy at the Oscars. Carpignano, who was a Berlinale Talent in 2012, was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2016. He continues to live and work in Southern Italy.
© Matei Buţă
Călin Peter Netzer (Romania)
Born in Romania in 1975, Călin Peter Netzer emigrated with his family to Germany when he was eight. After finishing school in Stuttgart, he studied directing in Bucharest, where he graduated in 1999. After many of his short films had won prizes at international festivals, Maria (2003), his first full-length feature, premiered at the Locarno Festival, where it took home several awards. Its leading actress was also nominated for the European Film Award. Netzers second feature film Medal of Honour (2009) was presented at more than 30 film festivals and received several awards. In 2013 Netzer won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale for his family drama Child’s Pose. The film went on to win eight national Romanian film awards and a nomination for the European Film Award. With Ana, mon amour, he returned to the Berlinale Competition in 2017. For its editing, the film received the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution.
© Merav Ben Loulou
Noa Regev (Israel)
Noa Regev has been the executive director of the Jerusalem Cinematheque since 2013. This position also includes heading the Israel Film Archive as well as the Jerusalem Film Festival, which under her direction has grown in size and significance, both nationally and internationally. Regev completed her studies at the School of Film and Television at Tel Aviv University with a doctoral thesis on genre in cinema as exemplified by children's film. Since then she has lectured at many academic institutions all over Israel. Prior to taking up her duties in Jerusalem, she headed the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival and the Holon Cinematheque.
