| Thomas Pluch Screenwriting Award | 2025 |

of the drehbuchVERBAND Austria in co-operation with the Diagonale

Main prize for the best screenplay for a feature-length cinema or television film | endowed with € 12,000
| The Village Next to Paradise  | by Mo Harawe

Jury Statement:
„he sum of the small everyday moments tells a multi-layered story. The protagonists make decisions, move forward, also take steps backwards, and thus resist the outside world, where the spectre of death is always present. But it is not a film of resignation: it gives the characters a chance. They all go through a development; they are complex with strengths and weaknesses, with soul and heart. The film creates the feeling that every life is valuable. We sense an empathetic, human-centred view. The narrative is calm and tense at the same time. This balance creates a unique pull. Only the bare essentials are spoken, making some words resonate all the more strongly. ‘It’s a waste of time to have children. They have no future here and often die early,’ says one of the characters. It is the author’s achievement that we nevertheless sympathise and hope with every single character.”

Special Jury Prize for the best screenplay of a feature-length cinema or television film with particularly outstandingly treated aspects | endowed with € 7,000
| Wenn du Angst hast nimmst du dein Herz in den Mund und lächelst | by Marie Luise Lehner

Jury Statement:
„Two milieus collide. Relationships are put under pressure. Will the main characters manage to remain true to themselves and not deny each other? The emotional aspects are told without sentimentality, the people are observed at eye level. Their inner journey is told unobtrusively and sensitively, critically and yet gently. It is about self-discovery, self-assertion, about standing by one’s origins and trusting in one’s own path. In the end, two girls sit on a merry-go-round and rise above the injustice of the world for a liberating moment.”

Award for the best screenplay for a short or medium-length feature film | endowed with € 3,000
| Preiswerte Lösungen für ein besseres Leben | by Leni Gruber und Alex Reinberg

Jury Statement:
„Who am I and who do I want to be? Don’t we all sometimes dream of a different life? Of how it would feel to move around in a different world, to be in a different skin, surrounded by other people? And what would you do if you had the concrete opportunity to simply switch seamlessly to a new identity? This premise is the starting point for a fast-paced reflection on unquenchable longing and parallel universes that ends in a bizarre escalation. This screenplay is original, clever and full of surprises. With pointed dialogue and all-too-human characters who, along with their shortcomings and quirks, are strangely touching. The storytelling is self-sufficient, unconventional and authentic.”

Also nominated for the Thomas Pluch Main Prize and the Thomas Pluch Special Jury Prize were Mond by Kurdwin Ayub, Mother’s Baby by Johanna Moder and Perla by Alexandra Makarová.

National Jury 2025:
Achmed Abdel-Salam (screenwriter and director)
Sandra Bohle (screenwriter and dramaturge)
Marie-Therese Thill (screenwriter, journalist and chairwoman of the Drehbuchverband Austria)
→ Award for short or medium-length feature films and nomination of screenplays for the main and special prizes

International Jury 2025Ö
Hanna Bringmann Slak (screenwriter, director, multi media artist, DE/SI)
Hans-Christian Schmid (screenwriter, director and film producer, DE)
Anita Wasser (film producer, CH)
→ Awards for main & special prize