The 17 award winners of the 37 Filmfest Dresden were announced.

Golden Horseman 2025 / Copyright: FILMFEST DRESDEN

37 Filmfest Dresden (8–13 April, 2025)
 

Award Winners of the 37 Filmfest Dresden

17 Prizes Worth €70,500 Awarded // Double Awards for PANADRILO (Panama) and DO SOMETHING (Germany)) // Golden Horsemen for VOX HUMANA (Germany), SOCIAL CLUB (Germany), I DIED IN IRPIN (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine) and more

This Saturday evening, the award winners of the 37 Filmfest Dresden were announced in the National, International and Central German Competitions. At the official awards ceremony in the Filmtheater Schauberg festival cinema, a total of 10 Golden Horsemen and seven special prizes worth €70,500 were awarded. The eight juries and the audiences chose their favourites from the 67 short films screened in the three competition sections.

A selection of the prizes awarded is provided hereunder. A complete overview of all 17 awards and prizes is available here.

For example, the Saxon Film Promotion Prize, which is endowed with €20,000 and sponsored by the Saxon State Ministry for Science, Culture and Tourism, went to SAIGON KISS from Hồng Anh Nguyễn (Vietnam, Australia, Germany, 2024) in the National Competition. Moreover, the German production DO SOMETHING in the National Competition gained two prizes. Sofija Živković received the Golden Horseman Animated Film (endowed with €3,000 and sponsored by Balance Film and the Friends of FILMFEST DRESDEN), as well as the Audience Award (endowed with €2,000 and sponsored by the MDR public broadcaster).

Likewise, the work PANADRILO (Panama, 2023) from Marcela Heilbron in the International Competition scooped up two prizes. It received the Golden Horseman Short Film (endowed with €7,500 and sponsored by the Public Media Authority for Private Broadcasting – SLM) as well as the €6,000-endowed ARTE Short Film Prize (intended for the purchase of a film).

In the Central German Competition, Sophie Mühe’s film SOCIAL CLUB (Germany, 2024) was awarded the Golden Horseman (endowed with €3,000 and sponsored by the Saxony Film Association). Furthermore, Ferdinand Ehrhardt was delighted to scoop up the new Audience Award (endowed with €500 and sponsored by Jens Roth – rothcoaching) for his film DETLEV (Germany, 2024).

VOX HUMANA from Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan (Philippines, Singapore, USA, 2024) received the Golden Horseman of the Youth Jury in the International Competition (endowed with €2,000 and sponsored by the Ostsächsische Sparkasse Dresden bank). The Youth Jury in the National Competition awarded their Golden Horseman to THE MALE GAZE RECIPE (Germany, 2024) from Alma Weber and Joey Arand. The prize valued at €2,000 is sponsored by the Melli-Beese-Schulen Dresden schools (Semper Bildungswerk).

The seven special prizes and awards were received by the following films, among others:

The “fully political” – Short Film Award for Democratic Culture (endowed with €3,000 and sponsored by the Saxon State Ministry for Social Welfare, Health and Social Cohesion) went to I DIED IN IRPIN (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, 2024) from Anastasiia Falileieva.

The €3,000-endowed DEFA Promotion Prize Animation was received personally by Shadab Shayegan for PEAR GARDEN (Germany, 2024).

For LIKE WHAT WOULD SORROW LOOK (China, Canada, Japan, Germany, 2024), Hao Zhou received the LUCA Film Award for GenderEquality (endowed with €2,000 and sponsored by the LAG Jungen- und Männerarbeit Sachsen, Genderkompetenzzentrum Sachsen and LAG Queeres Netzwerk Sachsen associations).