Jury VFF Documentary Film Production Award 2024


The process of making a documentary film is particularly difficult to plan and often brings with it great uncertainties. Time and again, producers show great courage and demonstrate particular creativity and commitment in project development and film financing. By awarding the VFF Documentary Film Production Prize at DOK.fest Munich, we honour the passionate commitment and role of producers in the development of current cinema documentary film projects.

The prize is sponsored by the VFF Verwertungsgesellschaft der Film und Fernsehproduzenten mbH, is endowed with 7,500 euros, and is unique in Germany. In 2025, the prize will be awarded for the eighth time at DOK.fest München.

 

 

Nicole Leykauf

Producer and Managing Director of Leykauf Film

Nicole Leykauf founded Leykauf Film in 1996. Leykauf Film has always deliberately remained a small company so that Nicole Leykauf can concentrate on the individual projects. She enjoys working alternately with experienced filmmakers and film school graduates. Her passion is visually appealing cinema documentaries. She has been a member of the German Film Academy since 2007 and an honorary professor at HFF Munich since 2023. She occasionally works on committees to strengthen the reputation of documentary film.

© Dirk Ostermeier

 

Thomas Frickel

Author, Director and Producer

After studying German language and literature, journalism and sociology in Mainz, Frickel worked as a freelance journalist for several years, focusing on cultural reporting and historical reportage. Since 1968 he has been working in the film industry. Since 1986, Frickel has been chairman and managing director of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Dokumentarfilm (the largest association for independent film in Germany) in various film and cultural policy functions – for example, on the administrative board and executive committee of the FFA, the administrative board of the VG Bild-Kunst, as delegate of the beneficiaries in the VG Wort, on the advisory board of the VFF and the Künstlersozialkasse, etc. For several years he was spokesman for the Film/Media section of the "German Cultural Council". Frickel was also co-founder and until 1999 member of the board of directors of the European Documentary Film Network EDN. He is author, director and producer of numerous short and feature-length documentaries.