{"id":92996,"date":"2025-12-30T16:37:53","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T15:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diagonale.at\/?page_id=92996"},"modified":"2026-03-23T14:10:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T13:10:17","slug":"thomas-pluch-drehbuchpreise-26","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.diagonale.at\/en\/thomas-pluch-drehbuchpreise-26\/","title":{"rendered":"| Thomas Pluch Screenwriting Award | 2026 |"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday, March 23, 2026<\/strong>
\n11<\/strong> a.m.<\/strong>
\nDiagonale Forum
\nat the Heimatsaal \/ Volkskundemuseum<\/p>\n

Sponsored by the Federal Ministry for Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Awarded together with the Carl Mayer Screenplay Awards<\/a> at a ceremony in co-operation with the City of Graz\u2019s Department of Culture and the DrehbuchVERBAND.<\/p>\n

\n

Previous winners<\/a><\/p>\n

xxx<\/pre>\n
of the drehbuchVERBAND Austria in co-operation with the Diagonale<\/strong><\/p>\n
Main prize for the best screenplay <\/strong>for a feature-length cinema or television film | endowed with \u20ac 12,000
\n| Rose | by Markus Schleinzer |<\/strong><\/p>\n
Jury Statement:
\n\u201cThe detailed and truthful account
\nof a swindler of land and people,
\nwho, though born a woman,
\nnevertheless behaved as a man,
\nand committed many wicked deeds.<\/p>\n
This text panel opens the cinematic narrative and immediately sets the tone of the screenplay. The historical-sounding language draws us immediately into the small world of a village during the Thirty Years\u2019 War. With an impressive economy of dialogue, tensions between characters are established in just one or two sentences; it is precisely what is left unsaid that creates a deafening silence. And a wonderfully original narrative voice guides us through the story with a blend of empathy and commentary.
\nEven whilst reading, the precision of detail and the dramatic mastery of the storytelling allow the story to emerge with complete clarity in the mind\u2019s eye.”<\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
Special jury prize<\/strong> for the best screenplay of a feature-length cinema or television film with particularly outstandingly treated aspects | endowed with \u20ac 7,000
\n| Teresas K\u00f6rper | by Magdalena Chmielewska |<\/strong><\/p>\n
Jury Statement:
\n“With the Thomas Pluch Special Jury Prize, we are honouring a screenplay that brings the consequences of patriarchal violence and its transgenerational effects to life with great clarity, whilst also allowing the characters to retain their secrets. Here, the private sphere is not merely political; in its concrete linguistic form, it constitutes a powerful artistic statement that, even as a text in its own right, exerts a compelling pull without obscuring the hybrid documentary elements. The skilful integration of the audio layer, combined with a strong visual concept, elevates the concreteness of a single body, of a single family, into an abstraction that takes on socio-political significance.
\nCongratulations to Magdalena Chmielewska on winning the Thomas Pluch Special Jury Prize for Teresas K\u00f6rper<\/em>.”<\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
Award for the best screenplay<\/strong> for a short or medium-length feature film | endowed with \u20ac 3,000
\n| Ein Unfall | by <\/strong>Angelika Spangel & Sophia Wiegel <\/b>|<\/strong><\/p>\n
Jury statement:
\n“The screenplay for the best short film, which we are honouring today, highlights a major danger that appears to be of great socio-political and ethical significance: turning a blind eye. A lack of solidarity. Isolation. Powerlessness.
\nWe are introduced to an Austrian village. We watch children playing a prank, a father and a son arguing with one another. The writers hold a magnifying glass to the inhabitants and shed light on the seemingly mundane without resorting to clich\u00e9s. What is described is specific, as if taken from real life, and captivates us as the readers of this screenplay. Different characters appear in various narrative strands, linked by the finely woven plot and the theme of the stories.
\nAngelika Spangel and Sophia Wiegele skilfully depict how empathy and a willingness to help \u2013 these cornerstones of peaceful coexistence \u2013 come to be neglected. For here, the characters do not help one another; they assume that someone else will intervene and, the moment they see a fire, do not feel responsible, \u2018because they haven\u2019t put their mobile away just yet\u2019. In times of rising autocracies and a palpable shift to the political right, the focus on people who look away resonates. People who let things happen. A script about failure to render assistance.
\nWe would like to congratulate Angelika Spangel and Sophia Wiegele on their film Ein Unfall<\/em> for their insightful analysis and for winning this year\u2019s Thomas Pluch Screenplay Award for Best Short Film.”<\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
NOMINEES 2026:
\n<\/strong>Landkrimi Acht <\/strong><\/em>by Marie Kreutzer
\n<\/strong>Rose\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>by Markus Schleinzer, Alexander Brom
\n<\/strong>The Stories <\/strong><\/em>by\u00a0Abu Bakr Shawky
\n<\/strong>Teresas K\u00f6rper\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>by Magdalena Chmielewska
\n<\/strong>White Snail <\/strong><\/em>by Elsa Kremser, Levin Peter<\/strong><\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
International Jury 2026:
\nLorenz Dangel<\/strong> (film composer & musician, Germany)
Milan Dor<\/strong> (screenwriter & dramaturg, Austria)
Kyra Scheurer<\/strong> (dramaturg & curator, Germany)
\n\u2192 Awards for main & special prize<\/p>\n
National Jury 2026:
\nJacob Groll<\/strong> (screenwriter & director)
Marie Luise Lehner<\/strong> (screenwriter, writer & director)
Joana Scrinzi<\/strong> (editor)
\n\u2192 Award for short or medium-length feature films and nomination of screenplays for the main and special prizes<\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Monday, March 23, 2026 11 a.m. Diagonale Forum at the Heimatsaal \/ Volkskundemuseum Sponsored by the Federal Ministry for Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sports. Awarded together with the Carl Mayer Screenplay Awards at a ceremony in co-operation with the City of Graz\u2019s Department of Culture and the DrehbuchVERBAND. Previous winners  of the drehbuchVERBAND […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-92996","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diagonale.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/92996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diagonale.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diagonale.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diagonale.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diagonale.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92996"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.diagonale.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/92996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95369,"href":"https:\/\/www.diagonale.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/92996\/revisions\/95369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diagonale.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}