Maren Ade, Jonas Dornbach, and Janine Jackowski, co-heads of Germany’s Komplizen Film, will be feted with the Eurimages International Co-Production Award at the European Film Awards in January.
The award is presented by the European Film Academy in co-operation with Eurimages, the cultural support fund of the Council of Europe, and acknowledges the role of co-productions in fostering international exchange.
Some 20 films produced or co-produced by Komplizen Film have been supported by Eurimages, including The Whistlers by Corneliu Porumboiu, The Story of My Wife by Ildikó Enyedi, About Dry Grasses by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Corsage by Marie Kreutzer, and more recently Sentimental Value by Joachim Trier and Yes by Nadav Lapid.
Berlin-based Komplizen Film is a co-founding member of The Creatives, a federation of 10 international independent production companies.
Ade began her studies in production at the HFF Munich in 1998, before moving on to studying film direction. In 1999 she co-founded Komplizen Film with Janine Jackowski, with whom she co-produced her graduation film The Forest For The Trees in 2003.
Her third feature film, Toni Erdmann, supported by Eurimages, world premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016. It went on to win a number of awards – among them four European Film Awards – play at numerous festivals and was sold in over 100 countries worldwide.
Ade not only produces her own films but also serves as a producer on films by other directors.
Raised in Perugia, Italy, Dornbach began his career by establishing and running his production company Kinoherz, from 2002 to 2009.
In 2006, he graduated from the German Film and Television Academy Berlin. Since joining Komplizen Film in 2010, Dornbach has produced numerous internationally acclaimed films.
He is Vice President of the ACE Producers Network and a member of the German Film Academy, British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), European Film Academy and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).
Jackowski, who also studied at HFF Munich, where meeting with Ade and co-founding of Komplizen Film 1999, laid the foundation for a career spanning more than 25 years.
She has since produced over 60 films and series, many of which have been selected for and awarded at international film festivals. She is a member of the ACE Network, EPC, the German, British, and European Film Academies, as well as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Ade, Dornbach and Jackowski will be honorary guests at the gala for the 38th European Film Awards on 17 January 2026 in Berlin to receive their award in person.