The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW awarded a Gerd Ruge Grant, endowed with €20,000, to João Pedro Prado for his project The Wars We Play. The grant supports the development of innovative feature-length documentaries for the big screen and gives filmmakers the opportunity to advance their projects at an early stage, with both artistic freedom and thematic depth.
Named in honor of the renowned journalist and documentary filmmaker Gerd Ruge, the grant is one of the most important instruments for the independent development of cinematic documentaries. It is particularly distinguished by its openness to a wide range of topics, styles and narrative forms, and over more than two decades it has paved the way for numerous award-winning films that have provided vital impulses for both the diversity of documentary cinema and society as a whole.
Five projects were selected from a total of 59 submitted. The jury consisted of director and producer Corinna Belz, director Eric Friedler, Filmstiftung CEO Walid Nakschbandi, producer, author, and journalist Sandra Maischberger, director and author Doris Metz, and author and filmmaker Düzen Tekkal.