From beginning to end, Magisches Island is a memorable feast for the eyes, engaging the viewer with astonishingly beautiful imagery of this volcanic island--including a delightful array of flora and fauna. A true master of communicating science through his exquisite art, director Jan Haft draws us deep into this magical place, ultimately enticing us to understand and care even more about the natural world.

- Jury Statement

Based on the chance find of numerous, until then unknown films by Hans Hass which he, in his life time, had ordered to be destroyed, Oliver Bruck has succeeded in his film Exploring Hans Hass in developing a complex, however always fluent, visual and sonic story line by combining skilfully those findings with archive materials, personal on-site-explorations and interviews with companions, which present not only a sophisticated portrait of the Austrian diving and film pioneer, but above all the persona of Hans Hass.

- Jury Statement

In the film FASZINATION ARKTIS, the two extreme divers Jill Heinerth und Mario Cyr undertake a breath-taking expedition into the fascinating underwater world of the Polar Sea. Through their eyes, we can closely experience this unique world. We dive with belugas and narwhales, meet walruses and ice-bears and giant floating icebergs. At the same time, we see, how this world of the seemingly eternal ice is changing just before our eyes. The ice is melting faster, certain food chains and habitat of animals are disappearing. This film is fascinating by its beauty, however, also by showing that the fragile balance of nature is on the verge of tipping over. Those pictures will probably be among the last ones, which show us the Arctic as it is today. A thought provoking documentary.

- Jury Statement

In this charming account of paraglider Antoine Girard’s solo flight above Pakistan’s Broad Peak, we witness absolutely exhilarating footage of his record-breaking achievement, as he skillfully overcomes a multitude of challenges. An inspirational film about realizing the greatest heights in our human potential.

- Jury Statement

With surprising turns and with ravishing humour, THE PATHAN PROJECT tells the story of four mountaineering friends and their dare-devil expedition up to now unclimbed peaks in Pakistan. The director Guillaume Broust has managed to capture the climbers’ positive energy in a way that inspires immediately the spectators. We jury members have suffered with them, we have felt their fears and scent their sweat, nevertheless we could also every now and then heartily laugh. The self-ironic view even in extreme situations makes this film outstanding and a true adventure for all of us.

- Jury Statement

In his documentary Drømmeland, the Dutch director Joost van der Wiel depicts the quite human longing for a social withdrawal and a living in untouched nature, by means of his protagonist, the 60year-old Nils, who has retreated for an indefinite time in a hut in a remote Norwegian high valley. With great empathy, he manages to capture the atmospheres of the landscape, which change in the course of the seasons and his protagonist’s emotive traits, who is oscillating between happy solitude and torturing loneliness to consolidate the story into an intimate play, which illustrates in a poignant way the joys and the conflicts of an alone person .

- Jury Statement