Competition juries ’26

Once again this year, three juries will decide on the 11mm award winners: The Grand Jury, the Young Jury and the ShortKicks Jury. The Grand Jury and the Young Jury will each select the best feature-length film of the festival, possibly from completely different perspectives. The ShortKicks Jury, on the other hand, will select the best international short film live on stage during the ShortKicks Gala on Monday evening.

Author, presenter, podcaster

Gregor Ryl is a freelance author and creative mind with a focus on football, television and comedy. He develops texts and concepts for TV formats and advertising campaigns and is the creator of the soccer podcast format “Copa TS” and “Im Osten geht die Sonne auf” – the weekly podcast about eastern soccer from Sport im Osten. With humor and expertise, he sheds light on topics ranging from the local league to the European Cup.

Managing Director Women’s Professional Football – 1.FC Union Berlin

Jennifer Zietz played for Turbine Potsdam from 1999-2015 and is a 15-time German international. With Turbine, she won the UEFA Women’s Cup in 2005 and the Champions League in 2010; she was part of the squad that became European champions in 2009. Since 2023, she has been Managing Director Women’s Professional Football at 1. FC Union.

Actress, director

Pia Hierzegger is a founding member of the internationally renowned independent theater ensemble “Theater im Bahnhof” (Graz). She works as an actress and presenter as well as a screenwriter and director; her film “Altweibersommer” premiered last year. She is a passionate fan of the Grazer AK.

Managing Director ALBA BERLIN

Marco Baldi (63) is one of the most successful sports managers in Germany and played for BG Ludwigsburg and DTV Charlottenburg in the Bundesliga from 1979-87. After a three-year stint as a marketing manager in the technology sector, the business graduate returned to basketball in 1990. He became manager of the newly founded ALBA team, with which he has won eleven league and eleven cup titles to date, as well as the European Korac Cup with the men and a German championship with the women.

Director, screenwriter

Adrian Goiginger was born in Salzburg in 1991 and studied scenic directing at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. His cinema debut THE BEST OF ALL WORLDS premiered at the 2017 Berlinale, where it was awarded the Compass Perspective Prize. The film has won over 100 awards worldwide (including the Austrian Film Award in 5 categories) and over 100,000 moviegoers in Austria. DER FUCHS was able to build on this success and had over 130,000 moviegoers in Austria.

Politician

Jürgen Trittin studied social sciences and entered politics in the 1980s. He was a minister in Lower Saxony and a member of the Bundestag for Alliance 90/The Greens for 26 years (1998-2024), becoming its chairman alongside Renate Künast from 2009-2013. Under Gerhard Schröder, Trittin was Federal Environment Minister from 1998-2005. He is a fan of the Bundesliga club from whose city he comes: Werder Bremen.

Actors

German actor Emre Aksızoğlu was born in Heidelberg in 1988 and studied acting at Folkwang University in Essen. He is currently a member of the Maxim Gorki Theater ensemble, where he has been working since 2018 and has been invited to festivals such as the Theatertreffen with various productions. He can be seen in TV and film productions such as Tatort and currently in the ARD film series “Kanzlei Liebling Kreuzberg” as Kreuzberg lawyer Cem Oktay.

Actress, director

Katharina Blaschke grew up in Hamburg and studied theater studies in Munich for several semesters before training as an actress at the Otto Falckenberg School. She worked for years on independent stages and performed at numerous German theaters – from the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg to the Kleines Theater am Südwestkorso in Berlin. She has also taken on various roles in film and television productions.

Actress, singer, cabaret artist

Gisa Flake, born in Braunschweig in 1985, grew up on her father’s cabaret stage. She studied acting at the Bavarian Theater Academy “August Everding” in Munich, graduating in 2010. Since then, she has been active as an actress, singer, cabaret artist, presenter and speaker on stage, in front of the camera and in front of the microphone. She also writes screenplays with her partner. In 2020, she received the German Acting Award for her leading role in “Sag du es mir”.

Lenn (19) studies physics at the TU Berlin. In his free time, he likes to play basketball and loves to be creative. Film has been with him his whole life, as he grew up in a family of actors. He is passionate about pretty much every aspect of cinematography, be it acting, production design or dramaturgy.

Chana (20) has been passionate about football for many years, both as a player and as a coach. Children’s soccer is particularly close to her heart, where she has been involved with Hansa 07 for six years. She has also completed a federal voluntary service in sport and is training to become a physiotherapist in order to continue her enthusiasm for sport and exercise in her professional life.

Lykka (19) has been playing football since she was a child and is currently involved in political education in football stadiums as part of her voluntary social year at Lernort Stadion e.V.. Whether as a player on the pitch, as a coach on the sidelines or at workshops in the learning centers – she experiences every day that football is much more than just a game: diverse, political, unifying and sometimes heartbreaking.

Nele (19) studies cultural studies in Leipzig and has been a volunteer on film juries for several years, but has been watching movies with enthusiasm for as long as she can remember! She also tries her hand at various sports, including football…

Naomi (19) has been on many great film juries since 2017! Whether in her hometown of Chemnitz or at film festivals – she loves meeting new people and engaging with different perspectives on film, politics and society: “Young voices need to be heard and can be as loud as they want!”