Jury VFF Documentary Film Production Award 2024
The process of making a documentary film is particularly difficult to plan and often brings with it great uncertainties. Time and again, producers show great courage and demonstrate particular creativity and commitment in project development and film financing. By awarding the VFF Documentary Film Production Prize at DOK.fest Munich, we honour the passionate commitment and role of producers in the development of current cinema documentary film projects.
The prize is sponsored by the VFF Verwertungsgesellschaft der Film und Fernsehproduzenten mbH, is endowed with 7,500 euros, and is unique in Germany. In 2025, the prize will be awarded for the eighth time at DOK.fest München.
Nicole Leykauf
Producer and Managing Director of Leykauf Film
Nicole Leykauf founded Leykauf Film GmbH & Co KG in 1996. Leykauf Film has always deliberately remained a small company so that Nicole Leykauf can concentrate on the individual projects. She enjoys working alternately with experienced filmmakers and film school graduates. Her passion is visually appealing cinema documentaries. She has been a member of the German Film Academy since 2007 and an honorary professor at HFF Munich since 2023. She occasionally works on committees to strengthen the reputation of documentary film.
Thomas Frickel
Author, Director and Producer
After studying German language and literature, journalism and sociology in Mainz, Frickel worked as a freelance journalist for several years, focusing on cultural reporting and historical reportage. Since 1968 he has been working in the film industry. Since 1986, Frickel has been chairman and managing director of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Dokumentarfilm (the largest association for independent film in Germany) in various film and cultural policy functions – for example, on the administrative board and executive committee of the FFA, the administrative board of the VG Bild-Kunst, as delegate of the beneficiaries in the VG Wort, on the advisory board of the VFF and the Künstlersozialkasse, etc. For several years he was spokesman for the Film/Media section of the "German Cultural Council". Frickel was also co-founder and until 1999 member of the board of directors of the European Documentary Film Network EDN. He is author, director and producer of numerous short and feature-length documentaries.
Oliver Stoltz
Producer
Oliver Stoltz has been a producer of feature and documentary films for 25 years, primarily in war and crisis regions around the world. He won the German Film Award for the documentary LOST CHILDREN and for the children's film LEROY, and the Grimme Prize for the documentary THE GREEN WAVE. Most recently, he made four documentaries about the downfall of democracy: WE HOLD THE LINE about the Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa - Winner CPH Dox, THIS STOLEN COUNTRY OF MINE about the assassinated presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in Ecuador, TANJA about the Dutch leader of the same name of the FARC in Colombia and now COUNTRY OF LOST CHILDREN. Oliver Stoltz produces all his films with Dreamer Joint Venture. Dreamer has produced many co-productions with European broadcasters and co-producers, but also 5 films in African countries. A puppet children's film and a feature film co-production with NZ are currently in preparation.
