German Television Thriller Festival
The German TV Thriller Festival has been presenting the year's most outstanding crime thriller productions from German-speaking countries since 2005. It was born out of the idea of giving television crime drama a platform that does justice to its enduring appeal, inexhaustible range and social relevance.
The German TV Thriller Festival has been presenting the year's most outstanding crime thriller productions from German-speaking countries since 2005. It was born out of the idea of giving television crime drama a platform that does justice to its enduring appeal, inexhaustible range and social relevance.
In the historic Caligari FilmBühne in the Hessian state capital of Wiesbaden, the festival brings together industry representatives, rolls out the red carpet for premieres for broadcasters and production companies and offers the audience the opportunity to meet film and series creators directly. In 2024, the festival set a new record with 3,700 visitors.
Program
Traditionally, the festival begins on Sunday with the presentation of the honorary award for special services to German television crime drama. After the award ceremony, a film from the prizewinner's work will be screened.
The festival's series competition will take place on Monday. One episode from each of the five nominated series will be shown. Berlin film journalist Knut Elstermann will moderate Q&As with the filmmakers present.
Tuesday to Thursday is all about the competition for the German TV Thriller Award. Ten competition films will be presented. The film teams will also be present and will be asked by Knut Elstermann to talk about their films.
In the young screenplay competition, four authors will compete for the title of "Germany's most exciting young TV crime writer".
Friday evening will be exciting: the German TV Thriller Award will be presented during the award ceremony. One day later, the "Lange FernsehKrimi-Nacht" will close the festival week as a cult highlight. All ten competition films will be shown in one go during the night from Saturday to Sunday.
The prices
The heart of the festival is the competition for the German Television Thriller Award, which is presented to the best television thriller of the year by a jury of prominent experts. The editors and producers of the winning film receive a trophy and 1,000 liters of wine.
The jury also awards two prizes for outstanding acting performances and a special prize for a trade of their choice.
A jury of five readers of the Wiesbadener Kurier awards their favorite crime thriller with the Audience Award.
Since 2019, the festival has awarded an honorary prize for special services to German television crime drama to film and television professionals. The previous winners are Ulrike Folkerts (2019), Barbara Auer and Matthias Brandt (2020), Eoin Moore (2021), Anna Schudt (2022), Alexander Held (2023), Adele Neuhauser (2024) and Armin Rohde (2025)
In 2020, the festival launched a series competition. A jury of film and media studies students selects the crime series of the year. In 2020, they chose "Der Pass", in 2021 "Die Toten von Marnow", in 2022 "Der Pass II", in 2023 "Babylon Berlin - Season 4" and in 2024 the mini-series "Zeit Verbrechen", based on the successful podcast, won.