FIPRESCI Prize

The International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg is the second oldest German film festival after the Berlinale. It celebrates innovation as well as narrative and aesthetic courage. It acts as a compass and a trend scout, discovering new talented directors and presenting visionaries, opening up horizons and revitalizing the historical. The IFFMH creates a social experience context. As a mediator and networker of different cultural scenes, the IFFMH creates spaces for exchange between filmmakers and audiences. Among the filmmakers who showed their early work in Mannheim-Heidelberg are François Truffaut, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch, Angela Schanelec, Atom Egoyan, Thomas Vinterberg, Derek Cianfrance, Hong Sang-soo, Nicolas Winding Refn, and Guillaume Nicloux. Our jury of three will award one films from The On The Rise competition, the core of the festival and a stage for outstanding directorial talent, featuring only first and second features.

The festival, in its 40th edition, remains the only Latin American film festival accredited by FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Associations) as a top-tier competitive event – alongside Cannes, Berlin, Venice, San Sebastián, Locarno, Karlovy Vary, and Tokyo. It has long served as a launching pad for emerging Argentine and Latin American filmmakers. Additionally, the festival features special events such as master classes and roundtables. After being suspended in 1970, the festival was relaunched in 1996 and quickly regained its prominence as a major cultural event and a vital platform for Argentine cinema with both national and international reach. Traditionally organized by Argentina’s National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts (INCAA), the 40th edition will be jointly produced by INCAA and the Municipality of General Pueyrredón. Our three member jury – one Argentinian and two from Latin America – will award a film in the International Competition.

Thessaloniki Film Festival is the largest cinema institution in Greece that promotes quality films all year round and organizes the Thessaloniki International Film Festival and the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival. Both are city-focused events that take place in the vibrant city of Thessaloniki which combines history, arts, a culinary experience and a vivid nightlife by the sea. Τhe Thessaloniki International Film Festival, now on its 67th edition, is held each November, and is one of the oldest and most prominent festivals and the country’s most popular film event. Our jury of three members will give two awards, one to a film in the international competition and one to a Greek film that has its premiere at the festival.