• »Mein Name Akim« in the running for the Young Talent Award in the Medium-Length Feature Film category and the Big Audience Award, as well as the Götz-George-Nachwuchspreis
   
• »The Sons of Ilir« nominated in the Short Film category 
   
• Animated film »Fake News« receives nomination in the Short Steps category

The drama »Mein Name Akim« (Director/Screenplay: Aleksandr Kim, Producer: Alina Naomi Theis, Creative Producer: Annalena Liesner, Cinematography: Jonas Thibaut, Editing & Sound Design: Sophia Timšin) from the ifs Internationale Filmschule Köln has been nominated in three categories for this year's FIRST STEPS young talent film award. In the Medium-Length Feature Film category, »Mein Name Akim« is in the running for the prize worth 12,000 euros. Lead actress Yun Huang has a chance to win the Götz-George-Nachwuchspreis, worth 10,000 euros. In addition, the film is competing for the Big Audience Award, endowed with 7,000 euros.

»The Sons of Ilir« (Director/Screenplay: Robert Deçani, Producer: Caterina Ruzzante, Cinematography: Alessandra Albano, Editing & Sound Design: Jannik Urlaub, Set Design: Lion Littwin) receives a nomination in the short film category, endowed with 10,000 euros. 
Both films are final projects in the Bachelor's programme Film at ifs and are supported by the Young Talent Foundation Berlin.

The animated film »Fake News« (Director/Screenplay/Cinematography/Editing/Production/Animation: David Seul, Animation: Cem Karayakas, Kishore Srinivasan, Elisa Drache) is nominated in the Short Steps category, which comes with prize money of 5,000 euros. It was created as a final project in the MA 3D Animation for Film & Games, a master's programme offered by ifs and TH Köln.

Three nominations will be announced in each category, each worth 1,000 euros. All nominated filmmakers will be invited to a special programme of events surrounding the award ceremony.

About the nominated films: 

In »Mein Name Akim«, Akim, a trans man and political refugee, encounters bureaucratic hurdles, incomprehensible regulations and inhuman coldness in his tireless attempts to learn German so that he can study.

Having fled Albania 30 years ago, Agim and Erjon have led different lives. Their father's last wish brings them back. In »The Sons of Ilir«, they must confront their past, their fragile relationship, and a country that has changed as much as they have.

In »Fake News«, a plant lives peacefully on a balcony above a street until one day its owner begins reading fake news online about how to care for plants. Severe mistreatment forces the plant to take extreme measures: assuming that a computer is the source of all evil, the plant attempts to kill it.

The German FIRST STEPS Young Talent Film Award will be presented on 6 October 2025 at the Theater des Westens in Berlin. Anyone who would like to watch the ceremony live can do so from 7.30 p.m. via livestream at ARD-Mediathek.

The FIRST STEPS award is the most important award for graduation films from film schools in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. With a total of 132,000 euros, it is the most highly endowed award for young talent and is presented annually in ten categories. This year, 187 submissions were accepted.
FIRST STEPS was launched in 1999 by producers Bernd Eichinger and Nico Hofmann as a private initiative of the film industry. It is organised by the German Film Academy in partnership with ARD, Constantin Film, Netflix, Prime Video, Seven.One Entertainment Group, Studio Hamburg, UFA and Warner Bros. to promote young film talent in a sustainable and effective manner.