The award winners of the 41st DOK.fest München
We are pleased to present the award winning films of DOK.fest München 2026 and congratulate all the winners!
In the three competition sections DOK.international Main Competition, DOK.deutsch Competition and DOK.horizonte Competition – Cinema of Urgency the nominated films at the 401st International Documentary Filmfestival Munich competed for the VIKTORIA – the award statue donated by the sponsoring association of DOK.fest München. In addition, other top-class awards were presented. A total of 64,200 euros in prize money were awarded.The award winners of the past years
VFF Documentary Film Production Talent Award
DRIVING EUROPE
Producers: Lennart Heidtmann, Felix Länge, Artur Althen
Director: Felix Länge
More and more goods are being transported on Europe's roads, yet work conditions for truck drivers are getting worse and worse. Exploitative dependency and wage dumping. A broken system! The film relentlessly exposes how disenfranchisement has become the norm. A look behind the facade of our consumer society. I.B.
Jury's statement: “A successful documentary film is a barometer of its time. It illustrates developments (and setbacks) in society and takes us behind the façade of actuality, by elevating social and political events from the anonymous news stream and giving them a human face.
For this, it must be backed up by production structures that lay the ground for this work, that establish the technical and organisational conditions needed and provide cover for the creative team.
In the DRIVING EUROPE project, this symbiosis appears to have been particularly successful and you can well imagine what the production contributed to the project in terms of organisational, material and possibly even moral support during more than eight weeks of filming at a motorway service station in southern Hesse as well as during the research that followed. In deciding on this production, Lennart Heidtmann, Felix Länge and Artur Althen have demonstrated what documentary work so desperately needs: a firm grasp of the relevance of a topic, an ability to act fast, and perseverance, even when a swift end to a project appears out of reach.
It was precisely these abilities that were required in 2023 during the second Europe-wide strike by Georgian and Azerbaijani long-distance lorry drivers whose wages had been withheld for months by their Polish employers and whose protest suddenly shined a harsh spotlight on the early-capitalist deficiencies in the European logistics industry. Ruthless competition and price dumping reduce lorry drivers, particularly those from eastern European and Asia, to working in conditions akin to modern-day slave labour in the full knowledge of reputable German companies and retail chains. By directing the documentary’s gaze beyond the scene of the protest onto the family background of one of those involved and, above all, onto the responsibility of the German clients is one of the merits of a production that is a worthy addition to the once strong but now seldom encountered subgenre of “films from the world of work” and, not least for this, it is well deserving of the VFF-Nachwuchs-Produktionspreis."
Jury: Cosima Forchheimer (Producer),Thomas Frickel (Author, Director and Producer), Leon Harms (Producer)
The award is donated by the VFF Verwertungsgesellschaft der Film- und Fernsehproduzenten mbH and is endowed with prize money of 3.000 euros. The award goes to the producer of the film. The award ceremony will take place within the festival programme of DOK.fest München, together with the VFF Documentary Production Award.
German Documentary Film Music Award
MATERIA PRIMA
Komposition: Atena Eshtiaghi
Regie: Jens Schanze
Europe’s hunger for lithium for electric cars and the energy transformation collides with Bolivia’s resources and 400 years of colonial history. Jens Schanze follows negotiations over mining and extraction rights while also drawing on the words of an indigenous chronicler from 1615. A film about resource justice and structures that stubbornly repeat themselves. S.B.
Jury's statement: "With her music for MATERIA PRIMA, Atena Eshtiaghi succeeds right from the start in giving additional depth to the film’s images and establishing a distinct narrative layer. The music operates as its own dramatic force that sensitively accompanies the film while at the same time enhancing it with dramaturgical precision. Over and again, it emerges organically from the sound design and blends seamlessly with the visual language.
The composition never seems arbitrary or ornamental but clearly thought out and coherent in its structure. It doesn’t thrust itself into the foreground but nonetheless has a great impact. With sensitivity, it conveys emotional nuances – sometimes in a delicate and restrained way, sometimes incisively and insistently. It is precisely this balance of subtlety and expressiveness that noticeably raises the film’s overall effect to a higher level.
This year’s 2026 German Documentary Film Music Award goes to Atena Eshtiaghi for her music for the film MATERIA PRIMA."
Jury: Victor Gangl (Composer), Dominik Giesriegl (Componist & Lecturer), Anke Petersen (Producer), Mirjam Skal (Composer)
The prize is endowed with 5,000 euros and honours the team of filmmaker and composer. The German Documentary Film Music Prize is sponsored by the Versicherungskammer Kulturstiftung and supported by the Förder- und Hilfsfonds des Deutschen Komponistenverbandes DKV.
all inclusive Award for Inclusive Documentary Film Productions
"HELLO NEW BODY, HOW ARE YOU TODAY?"
Director: Laura Kansy
Filmmaker Laura Kansy is one of an estimated 650,000 people in Germany living with ME/CFS. In her early 30s, she was suddenly thrown off course by this poorly researched multisystemic illness. Gently and with impressive visuals and sound, she documents the daily routines of her new microcosm with the help of her partner. K.S.
Jury's statement: „This film is a document of the impossible. With rare courage and remarkable sensitivity, HELLO NEW BODY, HOW ARE YOU TODAY? manages to portray something that resists being portrayed: the protagonist’s inner world and her invisible chronic disease, ME/CFS. In doing so, the work consistently translates perception into a distinct filmic form making intelligent use not only of images but, above all, of a gentle and immersive sound design. There was no audio description available for the jury screening but, despite this, the film captivated the blind jury member from the very first second. This was achieved through the calm, beautifully-sounding voice of the protagonist as well as the outstanding sound design, which allowed us to get a real sense of the various locations and made the inner worlds so palpable. You could experience the pain and all the ups and downs of the illness along with the director and protagonist.
The film’s narrative sensitively shows that we know very little about what it is like to live with this condition. We wish to stress that this film must have been created in a situation in which nothing could have seemed more impossible and distant than producing a film. The director Laura Kansy more than succeeded in this. The film is also the result of a production process that was adapted to the conditions of the disability, moving beyond rigid time constraints. In this way, the film impressively demonstrates that fair and sustainable film productions that are tailored to the needs of the participants are not only necessary but can also open up new creative horizons.
HELLO NEW BODY, HOW ARE YOU TODAY? provides an important impetus for inclusive production methods in documentary film and makes an exceptional contribution to the visibility of invisible disabilities."
Jury: Barbara Fickert (Founder und Managing Director of Kinoblindgänger gGmbH & Blogger), Vika Gurina (Director, Film Educator, Video Artist & Project Manager of the Inclusion Working Group at Pro Quote Film), Leonard Grobien (Screenwriter & Director Aura Film Production)
Donated by the Werksviertel-Mitte Foundation, endowed with 5,000 euros. Nominated are documentary film productions in which filmmakers with disabilities play a leading role. The award will be presented for the second time as part of the 41st DOK.fest München in May 2026.
