Screenwriters Duc-Thi Bui and Philipp Lutz were awarded the Thomas Strittmatter Award 2026, endowed with €20,000 and presented by MFG Filmförderung Baden-Württemberg, for their screenplay for the drama “Malibu“. The film tells the story of 17-year-olds Jonas and David, who meet while undergoing cancer treatment in an oncology ward and develop a close friendship in which intimacy and love gradually blossom.
The three-member jury – director and screenwriter Laila Stieler, director and writer Güzin Kar, and media scholar Anna Kokenge – honored all three nominated screenplays with laudations. The Thomas Strittmatter Award was presented by State Secretary Arne Braun of the Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg, together with MFG Managing Director Carl Bergengruen, during a festive reception held as part of the 76th Berlin International Film Festival at the Landesvertretung Baden-Württemberg in Berlin. The other nominees for the Thomas Strittmatter Award 2026, Stephanie Fies and Romina Küper, will each receive €2,500 for their screenplays “Running High” and “Hyperbaby“, respectively.
More than 700 guests attended the MFG reception at the Landesvertretung Baden-Württemberg, including film personalities such as Natalia Wörner, Louise Peter, Bayan Layla, Sylvaine Faligant, Michael Baral, Anne Ratte-Polle, Susanne Wolff, Marc-Uwe Kling, Purnima Grätz, Andrea Guo, Emma Bading, Helge Mark, Viet Pham and Wanja Mues. Representatives of the AMCRS were also present, including Stefanie Larson (AMCRS Manager), Heiko Burkhardsmaier (Accenture Song VFX), Sebastian Runschke (SERU Animation), Holger Weiss, Dominique Schuchmann and Wolfgang Kerber (The M.A.R.K. 13 Group), Lilian Klages (Eagle Eye Filmproduktion), Gisela Schäfer (Gretels Gold), Matthias Drescher (Film und Fernsehlabor Ludwigsburg), Thomas Meyer-Hermann (Studio Film Bilder), Juri Stanossek (LAVAlabs Moving Images), and many more.
Source: MFG
