FIVE FABW-ALUMNI AMONG THE WINNERS
At the 36th German Camera Awards last Friday (May 8, 2026), five alumni of Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg received awards in the categories cinematography and editing. The award winners were honoured during an official ceremony at the WDR broadcasting centre in Cologne.
Since 1982, the German Camera Award has recognised outstanding achievements in cinematography and editing and is considered one of the most prestigious honours in the German-speaking film and media industry. This year, seven cinematographers and six editors were awarded, two of them received newcomer awards. In addition, the board of trustees presented the honorary award to DoP Torsten Breuer. The laudatory speech was given by Michael Bully Herbig.
Best Cinematography / Documentary Cinema
Stefan Neuberger received the award for the documentary film MIT ÄSTEN BIS ZUM HIMMEL (KGP-Filmproduktion, directed by Katharina Copony).
The documentary centres on a school in Vienna where children and young people with blindness or visual impairments learn exclusively through hearing and touch.
The jury particularly praised the film’s unique visual approach to the children’s and teenagers’ lived reality: “In a world in which seeing is almost impossible, Stefan Neuberger’s cinematography finds an extraordinary approach to the reality of blind and visually impaired people. The camera understands perception as a physical experience.”
Best Cinematography / Fiction Cinema
Fabian Gamper received the award for his cinematography in the acclaimed feature film IN DIE SONNE SCHAUEN (Studio Zentral/ZDF, directed by Mascha Schilinski).
The film tells, across several time periods, a stream of memories from the lives of four girls growing up on a farm in the Altmark region — from the 1910s to the present day. Fabian Gamper had already received the German Camera Award in 2018 for the FABW short film FREIBADSINFONIE. For IN DIE SONNE SCHAUEN (SOUND OF FALLING) he has also been nominated for the German Film Award. According to the jury’s statement, he combines “cinematography with storytelling to create an inseparable work of art.”
Best Editing / Documentary Screen
The FABW graduates David Gesslbauer and Marco Rottig, alongside Philipp Schnabel, were awarded for BABO – DIE HAFTBEFEHL-STORY (27Km’B Pictures/Netflix, directed by Juan Moreno and Sinan Sevinç).
The documentary traces the rise of Offenbach musician Aykut Anhan, known as „Haftbefehl“, while portraying a complex artist caught between the demons of his past and present.
The jury especially highlighted the editing process: “The editors found such an excellent rhythm for the images by cinematographer Wesley William Salamone and the archival material that the jury describes the result as a total work of art that keeps us captivated for over 90 minutes: No exit, Brudi!”
Best Editing / Fiction Screen
Anna Nekarda received the award for the television film DIE NICHTE DES POLIZISTEN (W&B TV/SWR/NDR/EPO-Film, directed by Dustin Loose).
The jury emphasised the importance of the editing for both characterisation and narrative structure: “It shows every facet of police officer Rebecca’s fragility and vulnerability, but also her strength and courage. […] Anna Nekarda’s editing is never predictable; it makes bold decisions without ever becoming self-serving.”
With these awards, Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg has once again demonstrated the high quality of its training and the outstanding artistic calibre of its graduates.
Photo: © WDR/Klaus Görgen