The European Feature Film Competition is being organised for the eleventh time since 2005. For the fourth time, only debut films by young directors are competing for the prize for best director, which is awarded by an international jury and comes with prize money of 5,000 euros.
Eight directorial debuts from European productions, which could not be more different, have been invited to this year’s competition. All of them can be seen for the first time in Münster. We accompany a homeless man on the streets of London in Harris Dickinson’s Urchin and watch his efforts to get back on his feet, sometimes with amusement, as the star of Babygirl and Triangle of Sadness stages his first feature film with such light-footedness. Through the eyes of a mafia boss’s daughter, we see inside views of the Corsican underworld in the 1990s in Julien Colonna’s subliminally seething The Kingdom. We experience the community and cohesion of a working-class neighbourhood in Cork, Ireland, in Brendan Canty’s Berlinale award-winner Christy.
The filmmakers manage the balancing act of transforming both personal and socially pressing topics into entertaining and gripping cinema stories. Despite its seriousness, the film My Uncle Jens by Norwegian-Kurdish director Brwa Vahabpour even manages to find slapstick moments in legal and illegal migration. British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri brings a feminist thriller about the Indian caste system to the screen with Santosh, which earned her a nomination for the British Film Award. Daphne Lucker’s Dutch competition entry Flame reveals the complex web of a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship. Austrian filmmaker Marie Luise Lehner bypasses every cliché of a coming-of-age film in her debut Wenn du Angst hast nimmst du dein Herz in den Mund and smiles unconditionally at the side of her young heroines. And Lauro Cress blows a breath of fresh air with his literary adaptation of the 85-year-old Stefan Zweig novel Impatience of the Heart.
- Christy
Awarded Best Film in the Generation section at this year’s Berlinale: a moving coming-of-age story about family, belonging and second chances. (English with German subtitles) - If You Are Afraid You Put Your Heart into Your Mouth and Smile
Marie Luise Lehner’s feature film debut tells the story of what it is like to transform the shame of one’s origins into pride, of affection, care and solidarity. Honoured with the Teddy Jury Award and the CICAE Art Cinema Award at the Berlinale. (German with combined German and English subtitles for deaf and hard-of-hearing people) - Flame
Daphne Lucker’s energetic directorial debut about friendships, complex family relationships and the courage to let go. After “Narcosis” two years ago, the next film with Thekla Reuten premiered in Germany at the Münster Film Festival. (Dutch with English subtitles) - Urchin
The directorial debut of British Hollywood star Harris Dickinson (“Babygirl”, “Triangle of Sadness”): A deeply human character study of an addict on the streets of London. (English with English subtitles) - Impatience of the heart
Stefan Zweig’s only completed novel, powerfully catapulted into the present day. Winner of three awards at the Max Ophüls Prize 2025: best feature film and best newcomer for Ladina von Frisching and Giulio Brizzi. (German with English subtitles) - Santosh
In the field of tension between the judiciary and the caste system: British-Indian director Sandhya Suri tells with powerful intensity what it means to live as a woman in India – politically explosive and gripping at the same time. (Hindi with English subtitles) - My Uncle Jens
An endearing comedy that deals in a gentle and humorous way with relevant topics such as communication problems, cultural differences and misunderstandings, setting personal boundaries, but above all legal and illegal immigration to places where people can feel safer. Premiered at SXSW 2025. (Norwegian, Kurdish with English subtitles) - The Kingdom
Violence and vendetta as a family legacy: in his feature film directorial debut, Julien Colonna tells his own story from the innermost circle of organised crime. After its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, the film received the highest acclaim from critics worldwide. (French with German subtitles)