Ecumenical Award

This award is given to a work in the ON THE RISE competition that demonstrates high artistic quality and expresses a human point of view that is in line with the Scriptures or encourages an examination of the biblical tradition and sensitises the audience to spiritual, social or ethical values.

This award is presented by the Ecumenical Jury, which consists of five members of the inter-church film networks INTERFILM and SIGNIS. Mannheim is one of the first film festivals ever to establish a church jury: The church jury has been present at the film festival in Mannheim (and later Mannheim-Heidelberg) since 1963, initially under the name INTERFILM, and since 1995 together with the Catholic partner organisation SIGNIS as the Ecumenical Jury.

This is our Ecumenical Jury 2025!

Edgar Octavio Rubio Hernandez, Brussels (Belgium/Mexiko)

Edgar Rubio (*1974) is head of communications for Mexico's National Dialogue for Peace and former Head of Communication at SIGNIS, the World Catholic Association for Communication. He has served on film juries at the Venice, Berlin, Cannes, and other major international film festivals. A Loyola University graduate (2001), he teaches film and multimedia production. He directed the shorts Miserere (2011) and Árbol (2015), as well as documentaries in Africa and Latin America. Author of Shjol (2021), El pez come palabras (2022), and photobooks Souls (2023), Entre el mar azul y el mar desierto (2024). His debut feature, Letters from Brussels (2024), is currently in post-production.

Marcsi Tóth, Budapest (Hungary)

Marcsi Tóth (*1978) is a Budapest based writer, screenwriter, and documentary film director. She has worked in numerous international and Hungarian films over the past 20 years, mostly in production department. Her first documentary “The Mount Carmel is right around the corner” debuted at the Hungarian Ars Sacra Film Festival, and in 2022 was broadcast on Hungarian television too. Her debut book “Erdő van idebenn” was published in this year by publisher Magvető. She has been writing short stories for the newspaper “The heart” owned by the Jesuit order, which she considers a very important mission in her life.

Kjell Riise, Tromsø (Norway)

Kjell Riise (*1955) is a Protestant theologian from Norway. He holds a theology degree from the University of Oslo and has worked as a parish priest at Tromsø Cathedral, as a church administrator in the municipality of Tromsø, and as an advisor to the bishop in Norway's northernmost diocese. He also led the development of a new practical church education programme here. In 2017, as head of Tromsø Church Academy, he initiated the Faith in Film Award at the Tromsø International Film Festival, which has been awarded since then (see tiff.no). During his time as president of the Norwegian Church Academies, he promoted the use of film and other expressions of art in church academy work. He is now member of the board of Oikosnet Europe, an ecumenical network of lay academies, spiritual communities and other institutions of Christian education across Europe.