The Film Prize of the Robert Bosch Stiftung kicks off with the Film Screening on February 11, before the new Film Prize winners will be announced at the award ceremony held during Berlinale Talents on February 14.

In cooperation with the Robert Bosch Academy three short fiction films, recently realized in the frame of the Film Prize, will be screened in the foundation's Representative Office on Thursday, the 11th of February: The 2016 Oscar®-nominee AVE MARIA by Basil Khalil, Dry Hot Summers by Sherif El Bendary and Zeus by Pavel Vesnakov.

With the presence of the filmmakers and special guests including Carlo Chatrian, Artistic Director of Locarno International Film Festival, Christian Jeune, Director of Film Department and Deputy General Delegate of Cannes Film Festival, and Shivani Pandya, Managing Director of Dubai International Film Festival, the event can be attended through personal invitation only.

The screenings will be followed by a panel discussion with the directors Sherif El Bendary and Basil Khalil alongside the journalist Aboubakr Jamaï. The panel will be moderated by Constantin Schreiber, journalist at n-tv.

Robert Bosch Stiftung has announced the fifteen nominated film projects by teams of Arab and German filmmakers now competing for the awards of short fiction film, short animated film and short or feature length documentary, each worth up to 70.000 euros. The three winner film projects will be announced on Sunday, 14th of February at the award ceremony held during Berlinale Talents.

This year's Jury encompasses; George David, Director of the Royal Film Commission of Jordan; Johannes Ebert, General Secretary of Goethe-Institute; Doris Hepp, Commissioning Editor of ZDF/Arte, Producer Roman Paul, Founder of Razor Film Production Berlin; Hania Mroué, Director of Metropolis Art Cinema Beirut; Director Marianne Khoury, Co-manager of Misr International Films Cairo and Florian Weghorn, Programme Manager of Berlinale Talents.

The International Jury will meet during two days in the Representative Office of the Robert Bosch Stiftung in Berlin before the start of the Berlin International Film Festival, where each nominated team of filmmakers will pitch their project's idea within 15 minutes to the Jury. The Nominees have been previously prepared for this pitch during an intense training with experts at the Nominee Forum, which was held last November and December.

Since 2013, the Film Prize of the Robert Bosch Stiftung for international cooperation targets film co-production between young German filmmakers and their partners from the Arab World, encouraging intercultural exchange. Applying for the competition starts annually in May and closes end of July. The three winning films will benefit from the value of the Film Prize of the Robert Bosch Stiftung in funding his/her film project.

Screening times of the 3 short fiction films at the Robert Bosch Stiftung's Representative Office in Berlin- (GMT+1):

Thursday, February 11, at 05:30 PM