| Diagonale Awards Sounddesign 2026 |

| BEST SOUND DESIGN FEATURE FILM |
| from the Austrian Sound Recordists Association – Filmton Austria |

Daniel Strube
Licht, kein Licht

Jury Statement:
The sound design creates a strangely precise system of recurring noises, such as the grinding of a coffee machine or the muffled pull of a car’s interior. Through these mechanical sonic repetitions, it generates a feeling that is at once familiar and unsettling, weaving the acoustic fabric for a deeply affecting film.

and

| BEST SOUND DESIGN DOCUMENTARY FILM |
| from the Austrian Sound Recordists Association – Filmton Austria |

Peter Kutin
Mit Ästen bis zum Himmel

Jury Statement:
We hear how different echo chambers emerge in the stairwell of a school building. We follow a child who maps out their surroundings through tongue clicks. We learn what a football sounds like. We become sensitized to the acoustic space through which people who must rely on their hearing make sense of the world. The sound design in this film carries a particular task and a specific weight: not to impose interesting sounds, not to construct artificial acoustic spaces, but to bring out the materiality of a sound world that is existential for the protagonists of this film.

Jury Feature Film:
Ulrike Müller (Casting Director, DE)
Ivan Salatić (Director & Screenwriter, ME)
Cyril Schäublin (Director & Screenwriter, CH)*

Jury Documentary Film:
Susanna Guggenberger (Producer & Festival Director, AT/CH)
Jan Künemund (Cultural Journalist & Curator, DE)
Carmen Trocker (Director & Curator, IT)

*Cyril Schäublin stepped in at short notice for Faraz Fesharaki (director & cinematographer, DE/IR), who unfortunately cannot attend the Diagonale due to the current situation in Iran.