New partners at 68th Nordic Film Days Lübeck
Lübeck, June 8, 2026. Starting with the 2026 edition of the NFL festival, two key jury awards can boast new partners. The SUPERKUNSTFESTIVAL will endow the 5,000 euro children’s jury prize, while THEATER LÜBECK will endow the same amount for the youth jury prize.
At the opening of the SUPERKUNSTFESTIVAL on June 12, the three Lübeck cultural institutions will send a joint signal for cultural inclusiveness, film savvy, and fostering young perspectives. For years, the Nordic Film Days Lübeck, the SUPERKUNSTFESTIVAL, and THEATER LÜBECK have been united in the goal of boosting young audiences’ embrace of culture, enabling their active participation, and helping their voices be heard. The new prize partnerships advance those goals.
Spotlight on Young Voices
The children’s jury prize is steeped in the tradition of the Young Audience section of the NFL, which showcases films for children and young people, as well as coming-of-age stories that appeal to all audiences. Since 1998, children from Lübeck aged from about 11 to 13 have had their own jury to pick their favourite film in the festival’s programme. The SUPERKUNSTFESTIVAL, a long-term partner of the NFL, will be taking over that prize. The two festivals have worked closely together since 2020, jointly mounting a film tent at the SUPERKUNSTFESTIVAL showing short films for children and families. The partners also work together to mount the BLOG:Buster project, which sees children and young people flexing their journalistic muscles covering the festival and reporting in their own podcasts. They have access to the Nordic Film Truck, outfitted as a mobile studio and editorial office.
“Children have an unvarnished view of the world. It is important to take their point-of-view seriously and to give them space to make their own decisions. And that is exactly what the children’s jury at the Nordic Film Days does”, says Michael “Roosty” Schmerschneider, director of the SUPERKUNSTFESTIVAL and the Kulturakademie der Diakonie Nord Nord Ost
The youth jury of the NFL has awarded its own prize since 2020. The panel is composed of young Lübeckers between the ages of 16 and 19, and plays a special role during the festival. The jury assesses films not only from the Young Audience section, but also narrative and documentary films from other sections that have special relevance for young people.
With THEATER LÜBECK taking on the prize partnership in the future, a close relationship with the Nordic Film Days Lübeck that has flourished for many years is further strengthened. The Prize Gala is held at the theatre, and with programmes such as Jung plus X, theatre education projects, and drama groups for young people, THEATER LÜBECK has for many years encouraged young people not only to experience culture, but to shape it themselves.
“Young people bring an important point of view to social and cultural discourse. Listening to them and giving their perspectives a platform is one of the key functions of cultural institutions”, says Caspar Sawade, managing director of THEATER LÜBECK, “That is why we are very pleased to support the youth jury of the Nordic Film Days in the future.”
“The children’s and youth juries have been the core of our Young Audience section for many years”, says NFL managing director Susanne Kasimir. “That the SUPERKUNSTFESTIVAL and THEATER LÜBECK, two strong partners in the city, are assuming responsibility for these prizes shows how much can be achieved when cultural institutions work together on long-term cultural education and audience development. Young people are not just the audiences of the future, they are already actively shaping culture.”
In addition to the honorary prize, the Nordic Film Days Lübeck award 11 film prizes with a total endowment of 67,500 euros. The awards for the 68th Nordic Film Days Lübeck will be announced at the Prize Gala on November 7, 2026 at THEATER LÜBECK.
Press contact:
Hanseatic City of Lübeck – Nordic Film Days Lübeck
presse@nordische-filmtage.de
+49 (0) 451 122 1331
