A total of 27 films from various strands have qualified for the Best First Feature Award at the Berlin International Film Festival.

The Berlinale has announced the three filmmakers who will judge the festival’s best first feature award.

Oren Moverman (Rampart), Taika Waititi (Boy) and Lucy Walker (Waste Land) will decide which debut feature will receive the €50,000 award, donated by the GWFF (Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung von Film- und Fernsehrecht).

27 films from the festival sections Competition, Panorama, Forum, Generation and Perspektive Deutsches Kino are in contention for the prize, with the winner announced at the official award ceremony in the Berlinale Palast on Feb 16.

The festival has also revealed the ten books that will take part in Books at Berlinale within the scope of the Berlinale Co-Production Market.

Interested producers will have the opportunity to speak with the international publishers and literary agents of the books, or even to option film rights directly. For more information and the ten books selected, visit the Berlinale website.

The films in contention for the best first feature award, and their respective festival section, are:

Competition

Uroki Garmonii (Harmony lessons) – Kazakhstan/Germany
By Emir Baigazin
With Timur Aidarbekov, Aslan Anarbayev, Mukhtar Anadassov

Panorama

Chemi sabnis naketsi (A Fold in My Blanket) - Georgia
By Zaza Rusadze
With Tornike Bziava, Tornike Gogrichiani, Zura Kipshidze, Avtand

Deshora (Belated) – Argentina/Colombia/Norway
By Barbara Sarasola-Day
With Luís Ziembrowski, Alejandro Buitrago, María Ucedo

Habi, la extranjera (Habi, the Foreigner) – Argentina/Brazil
By María Florencia Alvarez
With Martina Juncadella, Martín Slipak, María Luisa Mendonça

Tanta Agua (So Much Water) – Uruguay/Mexico/Netherlands/Germany
By Ana Guevara Pose, Leticia Jorge Romero
With Malú Chouza, Néstor Guzzini, Joaquín Castiglioni

Workers - Mexiko/Germany
By José Luis Valle
With Susana Salazar, Jesús Padilla

Youth - Israel/Germany
By Tom Shoval
With Eitan Cunio, David Cunio, Moshe Ivgy, Gita Amely

Forum

A batalha de Tabatô (The Battle of Tabatô) - Guinea-Bissau/Portugal
By João Viana
With Imutar Djebaté, Fatu Djebaté, Mamadu Baio

Das merkwürdige Kätzchen (The Strange Little Cat) - Germany
By Ramon Zürcher
With Jenny Schily, Anjorka Strechel, Mia Kasalo, Luk Pfaff

Grzeli nateli dgeebi (In Bloom) -Georgia/Germany
By Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß
With Lika Babluani, Mariam Bokeria  

I aionia epistrofi tou Antoni Paraskeua (The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas) - Greece
By Elina Psykou
With Christos Stergioglou, Syllas Tzoumerkas, Theodora Tzimou  

La Plaga (The Plague) - Spain
By Neus Ballús
With Raül Molist, Maria Ros, Rosemarie Abella, Iurie Timbur, Maribel Martí

Mo Sheng (Forgetting to Know You) – People’s Republic of China
By Quan Ling
With Hong Tao, Xiaodong Guo

The Weight of Elephants – New Zealand/Denmark 
By Daniel Joseph Borgman
With Demos Murphy, Angelina Cottrell, Matthew Sunderland

Sieniawka – Germany/Poland 
By Marcin Malaszczak
With Stefan Szyzszka, Stanislaw Cheminski, Jerzy Szlosar

Perspektive Deutsches Kino

DeAD - Germany
By Sven Halfar
With Tilman Strauß, Thomas Schendel, Judith Rosmair, Niklas Kohrt

Endzeit (End of Time) - Germany
By Sebastian Fritzsch
With Anne von Keller, Alexander Merbeth, Sebastian Ganzert

Freier Fall (Free Fall) - Germany
By Stephan Lacant
With Hanno Koffler, Max Riemelt, Katharina Schüttler, Maren Kroy

Silvi (Silvi – Maybe Love) - Germany
By Nico Sommer
With Lina Wendel, Thorsten Merten, Sylke Pergold, Harald Polzin 

Zwei Mütter (Two Mothers) - Germany
By Anne Zohra Berrached
With Karina Plachetka, Sabine Wolf

Generation

AninA - Uruguay/Colombia
By Alfredo Sordeguit
With Federica Lacanio, Guillermina Pardo, Lucía Parrilla

Cita - Citaku Setinggi Tanah (Stepping on the Flying Grass) - Indonesia
By Eugene Panji
With M. Syihab Imam Mutaqin, Rizqullah Maulana Daffa, Iqbal Zuhd

Hide Your Smiling Faces - USA
By Daniel Patrick Carbone
With Ryan Jones, Nathan Varnson, Colm O’Leary 

MARUSSIA - Russian Federation
By Eva Pervolovici
With Dinara Drukarova, Marie-Isabelle Shteynman, Dounia Sichov

Princesas Rojas (Red Princesses) - Costa Rica/Venezuela
By Laura Astorga Carrera
With Valeria Conejo, Aura Dinarte, Fernando Bolaños, Carol Sanab

The Rocket - Australia
By Kim Mordaunt
With Sitthiphon Disamoe, Loungnam Kaosainam, Thep Phongam

Um Fim do Mundo (The End of the World) - Portugal
By Pedro Pinho
With Eva Santos, Iara Teixeira, Indalécio Gomes, Manuel Gomes 

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