The Golden Key will award an outstanding documentary work of a young director. The City of Kassel supports the prize for the 24th time. The Golden Key is awarded in two categories: for the best documentary short film, up to 66 minutes, and the best documentary feature film, of more than 66 minutes. Each prize is endowed with €2,500.
Nominated are works whose directors were not older than 35 years by the time the work was completed. In justified cases the selection committee of the festival decides about exceptions regarding this regulation. The selection committees have nominated 23 works from the festival program for the Golden Key. Including films from Australia, Belgium, China, Denmark, France, Georgia, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iran, Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Since 2017 the Golden Key is listed as an officially accepted competition of the German National Film Board (FFA). Films produced in Germany with a running time up to 30 minutes are able to collect 5 Points for reference film funding with a nomination.
Jury 2026
Daniel Asadi Faezi studied directing at University of Television and Film Munich and National College of Arts Lahore, Pakistan. His films have been screened and awarded at numerous film festivals, including Berlinale, Locarno, IDFA and Visions du Réel. Currently he is working on his debut feature-length documentary together with Mila Zhluktenko. Their short film “in retrospect” won the Golden Key Award in 2025.
Florian Fischer is a filmmaker and curator. His work has been awarded the German Short Film Prize and the Golden Bear at the Berlinale Shorts. He curates for Stuttgarter Filmwinter, Werkleitz Festival, PARADOKS and the International Short Film Festival Hamburg. From 2021 to 2025 he served on the jury of the German Short Film Prize. He is co-founder of the production company PARA Film in Leipzig.
Suse Itzel deals with violence, speechlessness and defiance. She studied fine arts at HFBK in Hamburg, as well as literature and experimental film at KHM in Cologne. Her short film “I would have liked to make a different film” has won several awards. It received an honorable mention at the 42nd Kassel Dokfest. In Cologne Itzel is a co-founder of the queer-feminist reading series [OHNE PRONOMEN].
Michelle Koch is the director of dfi – Dokumentarfilminitiative im Filmbüro NW. Freelance editor, author, and programmer for film festivals and cultural institutions. Academic and journalistic contributions in numerous publications; co-editor of, among others, “Österreich real. Dokumentarfilm 1981–2021” (with A. Bachmann, Vienna 2022).
Kati Werkmeister is an art historian and literary scholar and has been working at the Cultural Affairs Office of the City of Kassel since 2017. There, she is responsible for cultural funding and advisory services in the fields of visual arts, film, and media. Previously, she was the director of the Kunsthalle Willingshausen and was a member of the Kassel Dokfest organizational team.
The Nominees
Almourad Aldeeb (Estahbes), Lexie Bean und Logan Rozos (What Will I Become?), Lotta Becker (Denkst du auch, was ich denk, Couseng?), Karla Condado (Miriam), Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze (Graft Versus Host), Siri Hammarén (Du sagst, dass du auf der Party bleibst, weil es dir Spaß macht), Brenda Akele Jorde und David Simon Groß (Entre nós e o silêncio), Nazgol Kashani (Uncle Filmi), Hemen Khaledi (Singing Wings), Miri Klischat (Garden of Edie), Keren Kraizer (Fracture), Chouwa Liang (Replica), Lisa Mazenauer (The Right to Forget), Ibrahim Omar (Nothing Happens After Your Absence), Marthe Peters (Henry is a Girl Who Likes to Sleep), Amen Sahraei (Alone in Tehran), Ting Su (Daily Worker), Lili Süper (Preservation of a Muse), Jordan Strafer (DISSONANCE), Rachel Taparjan (Something Familiar), Silver Tjepkema (Heaven Will Wait), Rico Wong (Compact Disc), Tianji Yu (Ping Pong)
Award Winners
2025 Feature Film: Juanjo Pereira: Bajo las banderas, el sol
2025 Short Film: Mila Zhluktenko, Daniel Asadi Faezi: in retrospect
2025 Honorable Mention Feature Film: Najiba Noor: La Vie de Hawa
2025 Honorable Mention Short Film: Suse Itzel: Ich hätte lieber einen anderen Film gemacht
2024 Feature Film: Victoria Verseau: Trans Memoria
2024 Short Film: José Luis Jiménez Gómez: El Reinando de Antoine
2024 Honorable Mention Feature Film: Farah Kassem: Nahnou Fil Dakhil
2023 Feature Film: Asmae El Moudir: The Mother of All Lies
2023 Short Film: Franzis Kabisch: getty abortions
2023 Honorable Mention Short Film: Anna Witt, Jugendforum Gröpelingen: Bond
2022 Feature Film: Marusya Syroechkovskaya: How to Save a Dead Friend
2022 Short Film: Evgenia Arbugaeva, Maxim Arbugaev: Haulout
2022 Honorable Mention Feature Film: HA LE Diem: Children of the Mist
2021 Feature Film: Stefan Pavlovic: Looking for Horses
2021 Short Film: Guang Liu: 当海里长出森林 (When the Sea Sends Forth a Forest)
2020 Feature Film: Radu Ciorniciuc: Acasa – My Home
2020 Shortfilm: Francesca Bertin: L`Artificio
2019 Feature Film: Jialing Zhang und Nanfu Wang: One Child Nation
2019 Shortfilm: Markus Fiedler, Nanna Katrine Hansen, Thomas Elsted and Stanley Edwards: Cast Away Souls
2018 Feature Film: Jasmin Preiß: Sweet Meadow
2018 Shortfilm: Agnes Lisa Wegner: No Fucking Ice Cream
2017 Ziad Kalthoum: Taste of Cement
2016 Ognjen Glavonic: Dubina Dva
2015 Mea de Jong: If Mama Ain't Happy, Nobody's Happy
2014 Leslie Tai: The Private Life of Fenfen
2013 Gabriel Serra: La parka
2012 Antoine Bourges: East Hastings Pharmacy
2011 Carmen Losmann: Work Hard - Play Hard
2010 Viera Cákanyová: Alda
2009 Thomas A. Østbye: Human
2008 Mario Hirasaka: Die Ryozanpaku
2007 Jess Feast: Cowboys & Communists
2006 Sarah Vanagt: Begin Began Begun
2005 Susanne Jaeger: Vater und Feind
2004 Alexandra Gulea: Die Daumendreher (GOD PLAYS SAX; THE DEVIL VIOLIN)
2003 Sandra Jakisch: 08/15 – Leben am Rand von Köln
2002 Klaus Stern: Andreas Baader- Der Staatsfeind