VFF Documentary Production Talent Award 2027
Call for Entries – submit now until 22nd January 2027!
DOK.fest München and VFF Verwertungsgesellschaft der Film- und Fernsehproduzenten mbH are pleased to announce the 2nd VFF Documentary Production Talent Award, which will be presented at the 42nd DOK.fest München, taking place in May 2027.
A new award for emerging documentary producers in Germany
Now in its second year, this award recognises the central role played by production in the creation of contemporary academic documentary feature film projects.
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.
Emerging producers are cordially invited to submit their current documentary films!
Regulations
1. General conditions of participation
Films that meet the following criteria are eligible for submission to the VFF Documentary Production Talent Award:
- Film production with a minimum length of 52 minutes
- At least 51% production share from Germany
- Publication after 1 January 2026
- Only university films, including graduation films, from the production programme of a German university are eligible. (Please indicate on the submission form which university you are enrolled at).
- If your film has already participated in a previous DOK.fest München edition, it cannot be resubmitted.
- Until the screening at the festival, the submitted film must not have had a regular theatrical release in Germany, or broadcast on a public or free-to-air private channel. Furthermore, films that are available on freely accessible internet platforms are excluded from the festival. In individual cases, the decision on admission is the responsibility of the festival management.
- Up to three public screenings at DOK.fest München 2027 are obligatory.
The selection for the VFF Documentary Production Talent Award is based on the criteria below. It is the responsibility of the producer to present the special production achievement to the jury members in the documents to be submitted:
- Commitment of the production in the selection of a challenging subject
- Commitment and productivity in putting together the financing
- Creative and innovative approaches to production
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2. Granting of rights, legal guarantees and exemptions
(1) By submitting the film, you guarantee that you are the sole owner of all rights to the work. This includes, in particular, the moral rights, copyrights, and neighboring rights of all persons appearing in the film and all those involved in the production of the film, as well as the rights of other third parties and the right to grant us the rights specified as follows: DOK.fest München is granted the screening rights to the film as well as the right to potentially make it publicly available (online streaming, individual tickets geo-restricted to Germany, limited time period, 48-hour window) for the duration of the festival. Furthermore, you agree that DOK.fest München may, at its sole discretion, publish warnings regarding the film, such as, in particular, following the festival trailer shown before your film. The right to distribute press materials is granted to DOK.fest München without restriction as to location, time, or content.
(2) Upon notification of the film’s selection, you grant these rights to DOK.fest München without the need for any further declaration. You indemnify DOK.fest München against any and all third-party claims in connection with the rights specified in Section 4 (1), including the reasonable costs of the necessary legal defense, such as, in particular, attorneys’ fees and court costs.
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3. Publicity / Promotion
If your film is selected we require press and photo material to be provided promptly. By accepting the regulations, you assure that you will make the material (online download link, photos, texts, trailers) available to the festival for press relations and promotional purposes in our print materials, on our website as well as on our social media channels in the context of DOK.fest München. Likewise, you agree that DOK.fest München may use film clips of up to three minutes as part of the festival coverage on the website. With your consent, you also grant DOK.fest München the right to pass on photos as well as trailers to selected partners for promotional purposes.
By presenting our respective festival edition on the website, you agree to the indefinite storage and use of the photographic material and trailer in our archive on the website.
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4. Screening format
The following exhibition formats are required:
- DCI compliant Digital Cinema Package DCP
- ProRes File 4.2.2 HQ (sound format 5.1) or a H.264 file
5. Steps for submitting a film
- If you are submitting a film to us for the first time, please set up an account under "My account".
- If you already have an account, you can log in at any time.
- Please select "VFF Documentary Production Talent Award" under "Registration for" in the film submission form.
- We provide information on the exact steps for submitting a film here under item 8.
Please also send the following documents by email to Elena Lanzinger (lanzinger@dokfest-muenchen.de):
- Statement by the producer on the outstanding significance of the production for the film (max. 3000 characters)
- Short biography of the producer, director and other key participants (max. 700 characters per biography)
- Complete and clear breakdown of the budget plan
- Complete and clear breakdown of the financing plan
- Filmstill(s)
- Please indicate whether you are a VFF member.
Submission Deadline: 22nd January 2027
Please make sure that you send in all documents, as incomplete submissions cannot be considered. All documents and information will be treated in strict confidence.
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6. Screening fees
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DOK.fest München pays screening fees, both for the presentation in the cinemas and additionally on the digital screen. The screening fee is agreed with the rights holders – taking into account the best possible presentation of the festival films, we focus on invitations to the filmmakers and the corresponding (proportional) reimbursement of travel and hotel costs. There are no claims to the assumption of costs or to any other form of remuneration.
There is also the opportunity to win prizes in the cross-sectional competitions (DOK.international, DOK.deutsch, DOK.horizonte, DOK.spotlights megaherz Award, German Documentary Film Music Award, all inclusive Award, VFF Documentary Production Award, VFF Documentary Production Talent Award and kinokino Audience Award).
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7. Validity of the entry conditions
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By completing the submission using the online form, you accept the validity of the conditions of participation. These conditions apply to all film submissions for the current festival edition, even if they have not been expressly agreed upon again. DOK.fest München does not recognize deviating terms and conditions even if they are known, unless DOK.fest München has expressly agreed to their validity in writing.
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8. Place of jurisdiction and the application of German law
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Munich is understood as the place of jurisdiction as far as it is permissible. The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies to the exclusion of conflicting laws.
The submission is independent of the participation at the DOK.fest München.
Submission deadline is 22nd January 2027.
Contact
If you have any questions regarding your application, please contact:
Elena Lanzinger
lanzinger@dokfest-muenchen.de
Phone: +49 (0)89 51 39 97 88
DOK.fest München
Dachauer Straße 116
80636 Munich
Germany
Award donor
DRIVING EUROPE wins VFF Documentary Production Talent Award 2026
The first VFF Documentary Production Talent Award goes to the producers of the film DRIVING EUROPE Lennart Heidtmann, Felix Länge, and Artur Althen (directed by Felix Länge).
The jury’s statement reads:
“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)
Shortlist 2026
DRIVING EUROPE
DE, 2025, Felix Länge, 86 min.
Production: Lennart Heidtmann, Felix Länge, Artur Althen
FINDING CONNECTION
DE, 2026, Florian Karner, 84 min.
Production: Martin Schwimmer, Dominik Utz, Maite Bengsch
HAUS 4
DE, 2026, Philipp Schaeffer, 70 min.
Production: Franziska Unger, Paul Hartmann
NICHTS BLEIBT UND NICHTS VERSCHWINDET
DE, 2026, Paul Sonntag, 79 min.
Production: Oscar Meyer-Ricks, Judith Frahm, Paul Sonntag
WHERE THE WAVES TOOK HER
DE, 2025, Jana Stallein, 83 min.
Production: Charlotte Peters
