The nominations for the Grimme Prize 2023

When the winners of the 59th Grimme Prize are announced in the Filmhaus in Cologne on March 21st and they receive their awards exactly one month later in the theater of the city of Marl, the focus will again primarily be on actors from public productions . ARD, ZDF, but also 3sat and Arte were well in the favor of the nomination juries. Apart from public service formats, RTL Deutschland productions appear three times, Seven.One is included once – the two large private broadcaster groups together have as many Grimme nominations as Netflix. Magenta TV is still nominated, while Sky is left completely empty-handed. In 2022, the pay-TV provider was still proposed with its series “The Ibiza Affair”, “The Wasp”, “Me and the Others” and the “Wirecard” documentary.

Overall, the jury, which met in person for the first time since the pandemic, selected 69 productions/individual performances from 780 submissions in the various categories. Grimme director Frauke Gerlach explained that the nominations show how many “outstanding programs” there have been over the past year on the issues surrounding the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the energy crisis and the Iran protests. The urgency and relevance of other social issues were also not ignored in the nominations. This makes it clear how relevant the topic of diversity is.

Diversity in focus

In the entertainment sector, four out of ten nominated formats deal with the field of diversity. The diverse WDR talk “Andaz”, the German “Queer Eye” version from Netflix as well as the inclusive documentaries “Down the Road” from SWR and “Zum Schwarzwälder Hirsch” from Vox about people with Down syndrome will be included. Striking: Big studio shows didn’t make it into the nominees this time. Jan Böhmermann, who has been proposed for his “ZDF Magazin Royale”, can hope for a Grimme Prize for this, as can the team behind “Scenes Report” (MDR/ARD Kultur), “Normaloland” from ZDF, the “Palace of Thoughts” from BR and “Music Impossible – My Song. Your Sound.” (ZDF).

Joko and Klaas have meanwhile been nominated for a special prize for “sustainably creating awareness for the revolution in Iran and for recognizing the sovereignty that the medium of television is reaching its limits”. As part of their 15-minute campaign at ProSieben, the two had permanently handed over their Instagram accounts to two Iranian women.

Information in public hands

The manifold crises in the world, a war in Europe with direct effects on the German population, if one thinks of inflation, have pushed reports from other crisis regions into the background. Productions that have not lost sight of Afghanistan or Syria were therefore also specifically nominated: “STRG_F with the Taliban: Why do people like them?” (NDR/funk) for example, but also rbbs “Mission Kabul Airlift” or “The Other Side of the River” (Arte) about Syria in the civil war. “Genderation” (ZDF/3sat) and “Atomkraft Forever” (SWR/NDR) dealt with German concerns and problems. The fact that only one program commissioned by the private sector was proposed in the information area illustrates the importance the Grimme jury attaches to the public service offer. Only Film Five’s “Gladbeck: The Hostage Drama” for Netflix does not come from there.

Netflix hopes for “1899” and “Kleo”

In the fiction category, too, mostly public-law material was proposed, such as the ZDF/ZDFneo series “Himmel & Erde” created with Ukrainian filmmakers, or Charlotte Link’s “Safe”. However, private providers are also increasingly appearing here, RTL+ about twice with mentions for “Pretty Face” (Moovie) and “Ze Network” (Syrreal Entertainment/CBS Studios). Zeitsprung Pictures could win a prize for “Kleo” (Netflix), Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar have been suggested for “1899” (also Netflix) and Deutsche Telekom is also hoping: will “Oh Hell” win the coveted prize? According to Gerlach, people would “long for a change, entertainment and distraction from everyday life” in the face of the many crises.

In the children’s area, however, there is hardly a way around the public Kika, many of the nominations ran there, among other things. In the youth sector, several Funk productions stand out on the nomination list; Among them are formats like “Hypeculture”, “Sympathisch” or Coldmirror as a “formative Internet personality with high-quality and innovative content” as well as a “STRG_F” edition for their differentiated examination of Afghanistan.

The nominees at a glance

category fiction