Prize of the Ecumenical Jury


The Prize of the Ecumenical Jury is an independent film award for feature length films shown at major international film festivals since 1973. The award was created by Christian film makers, film critics and other film professionals. The objective of the award is to "honour works of artistic quality which witnesses to the power of film to reveal the mysterious depths of human beings through what concerns them, their hurts and failings as well as their hopes." The ecumenical jury can be composed out of 8, 6, 5, 4 or 3 members, who are nominated by SIGNIS for the Catholics and Interfilm for the Protestants. SIGNIS and Interfilm appoint ecumenical juries at various international film festivals, including Cannes Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, Locarno International Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival and the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Winners

Cannes (since 1974)

Films from diverse countries have won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the Cannes Film Festival. Most films having won the award are from European countries, with Italy, Germany and Poland dominating. Andrei Tarkovsky is the only director to have won three times. Samira Makhmalbaf is the only woman who has won the award and, until Asghar Farhadi won the prize in 2013, she and her father Mohsen Makhmalbaf were the only winning directors from a predominantly muslim country. Other countries that are not predominantly christian that have won the award are Japan and the People's Republic of China.
YearFilmDirectorCountry
1974 Rainer Werner FassbinderWest Germany
1975The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser Werner HerzogWest Germany
1976no award
1977The Lacemaker Claude GorettaFrance
1978The Tree of Wooden Clogs Ermanno OlmiItaly
1979Without AnesthesiaAndrzej WajdaPoland
1979Stalker Andrei TarkovskyUSSR
1980The Constant Factor Krzysztof ZanussiPoland
1981Man of Iron Andrzej WajdaPoland
1982The Night of the Shooting Stars Paolo and Vittorio TavianiItaly
1983NostalghiaAndrei TarkovskyItaly
1984Paris, TexasWim WendersWest Germany
1985The Official Story Luis PuenzoArgentina
1986The Sacrifice Andrei TarkovskySweden
1987Repentance Tengiz AbuladzeUSSR
1988A World ApartChris MengesUnited Kingdom
1989Jesus of MontrealDenys ArcandCanada
1990Everybody's Fine Giuseppe TornatoreItaly
1991The Double Life of VéroniqueKrzysztof KieślowskiPoland
1992The Stolen Children Gianni AmelioItaly
1993Libera meAlain CavalierFrance
1994To Live Zhang YimouChina
1994Burnt by the Sun Nikita MikhalkovRussia
1995Land and FreedomKen LoachUnited Kingdom
1996Secrets & LiesMike LeighUnited Kingdom
1997The Sweet HereafterAtom EgoyanCanada
1998Eternity and a DayTheodoros AngelopoulosGreece
1999All About My Mother Pedro AlmodóvarSpain
2000EurekaShinji AoyamaJapan
2001KandaharMohsen MakhmalbafIran
2002The Man Without a Past Aki KaurismäkiFinland
2003At Five in the Afternoon Samira MakhmalbafIran
2004The Motorcycle Diaries Walter SallesBrazil
2005Hidden Michael HanekeFrance
2006BabelAlejandro González IñárrituUnited States
2007The Edge of Heaven Fatih AkınGermany
2008AdorationAtom EgoyanCanada
2009Looking for EricKen LoachUnited Kingdom
2010Of Gods and Men Xavier BeauvoisFrance
2011This Must Be the PlacePaolo SorrentinoItaly
2012The Hunt Thomas VinterbergDenmark
2013The Past Asghar FarhadiFrance, Iran
2014TimbuktuAbderrahmane SissakoFrance, Mauritania
2015Mia MadreNanni MorettiItaly
2016It's Only the End of the World Xavier DolanCanada
2017Radiance Naomi KawaseJapan
2018Capernaum Nadine LabakiLebanon
2019A Hidden LifeTerrence MalickUnited States, Germany

Berlin (since 1992)

Montréal (since 1979)

Locarno (since 1973)

Karlovy Vary (since 1994)