For the 9th time we are awarding the prize for the best feature film by a female director. Eight top-class, international productions are competing for the price of €15,000.

Feature Film Competition 2021
Quo vadis? Where is it all going? The question that lends Jasmila Žbanić’s anti-war film Quo vadis, Aida? reflects a theme running through our strong 2021 competition selection. Most of the films were produced prior to the coronavirus pandemic before being completed in 2020, and will hopefully appear on cinema listings very soon. The films selected come from Egypt, Argentina, Costa Rica and Cameroon right through to Bosnia, Iran, Tunisia and France, and also include two German premieres.

The film-makers’ stories are told in highly assured style, many of them from marginalised perspectives. They chronicle a history of failures and abuses, without bringing their heroes and heroines to breaking point. Despite facing circumstances verging on the intolerable, they keep their proactive spirit alive and use what leeway they do have to put up a fight.

»Although we’ve naturally received fewer entries than in previous years, we are highly impressed by the overall quality and diversity of the films submitted this year. The competition line-up reflects the broad scope of forms, themes and cinematic language presented by women film-makers around the world. These range from a biting satire on the art business, a film about the gripping and empowering process of handling trauma in our first ever competition entry from Cameroon, to the magical realism of Céline Sciamma«, says artistic director Maxa Zoller.

The international jury, co-director and curator of the Barcelona International Women’s Film Festival Marta Nieto Postigo, director Monika Treut and screenwriter and producer Elma Tataragić, will announce the award-winners in an online stream.

The €15,000 prize money is split between the director (€5,000) and the German distributor (€10,000). This is intended to promote the distribution of films directed by women in Germany. The award will be presented online on 20 June 2021.

The nominated films

Aurora
Dir./Script Paz Fábrega, Costa Rica/Mexico 2021, 90’, German premiere

Bandar Band
Dir. Manijeh Hekmat, Iran/Germany 2020, 77’

Enterrés | Buried
Dir./Script Françoise Ellon, Cameroon 2020, 88’, German premiere

Las mil y una | One in a Thousand
Dir./Script Clarisa Navas, Argentina/Germany 2020, 120’

Petite Maman
Dir./Script Céline Sciamma, FR 2021, 72’

The Man Who Sold His Skin
Dir./Script Kaouther Ben Hania, Tunisia, France, Germany, Belgium, Sweden 2020, 104’

Quo vadis, Aida?
Dir./Script: Jasmila Žbanić, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Austria, Romania, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, France, Norway 2020, 104’

Souad
Dir.: Ayten Amin, Egypt, Tunisia, Germany 2021, 96′

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