From left to right: Ameer Fakher Eldin, Gabriele Stötzer and Stefan Grissemann
Ameer Fakher Eldin (Syria)
Ameer Fakher Eldin was born in 1991 in Kyiv, Ukraine, to Syrian parents from the occupied Golan Heights. His debut feature The Stranger (2021) won numerous awards, including the Edipo Re Award at the Venice International Film Festival, Best Film and Best Arab Film Award at the Cairo International Film Festival and Best Cinematography at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. It was selected as Palestine’s entry for the Oscars. In 2025, his film Yunan premiered in the main competition of the Berlinale and went on to win Best Director and Best Actor at the Red Sea International Film Festival, the Arab Critics Award for European Films (Best Film), awards for Best Actor and Best Actress at the Hong Kong International Film Festival and many more.
Gabriele Stötzer, born in 1953 in Emleben (GDR), was imprisoned for political reasons in 1977. In the aftermath, she joined the literary and artistic underground of the GDR and has been working as an independent artist since 1980. Her experimental work encompasses performance, photography, Super 8 film, drawing, textiles, ceramics, literature, painting, and interventions in public space. She was a co‑founder of the Künstlerinnengruppe Erfurt (Women Artists’ Group Erfurt) and a co‑initiator of the first peaceful occupation of a Stasi district administration. In 2013, she received the Federal Cross of Merit, in 2024, the Bremen Pauli Prize and in 2026, the Goslarer Kaiserring. The Gropius Bau Berlin is dedicating a major solo exhibition to her in 2026.
Stefan Grissemann (Austria)
Stefan Grissemann has been head of the culture section of the Viennese news magazine profil since 2002. Before that he wrote for the daily newspaper Die Presse for 13 years. He teaches film theory and history at the University of Music and Performing Arts (Film Academy Vienna). In 2003 he published the first biography of the life and work of B‑movie master Edgar G. Ulmer (Mann im Schatten, 2003), followed by a study on the work of director Ulrich Seidl in 2007. He also edited books on Elfriede Jelinek, Robert Frank, Peter Kubelka, Michael Haneke and Ruth Beckermann. Grissemann’s writing on contemporary cinema has appeared in the FAZ, taz, Kunstforum International, Trafic and Film Comment, among others.
The International Short Film Jury awards the following Prizes:
- Golden Bear for Best Short Film (The winner of the Golden Bear qualifies for being eligible for next year’s short film Oscar).
- Silver Bear Jury Prize (Short Film)
- Berlinale Shorts CUPRA Filmmaker Award, endowed with 20,000 euros
- The jury also appoints the Berlin Short Film Candidate for the European Film Awards.
Berlinale Shorts 