The EYES & EARS 2021 Special Edition will take place on 25 November and will feature not three, but five newcomer projects in addition to inspiring keynotes! 

27 projects, 20 jurors, one digital jury session – and finally 5 New Talents teams. This year it was simply impossible to select only three talents from the range of students, trainees and alumni, so the jurors made an exception for the first time: 5 teams will have the opportunity to present their projects to the audience of professionals at the EYES & EARS on 25 November. In addition, all New Talent finalists will receive a free annual subscription to the Adobe Cloud for one year and the winning team will receive a worldwide licence worth €10,000.00 from Warner Chappell Production Music for one project (i.e. 1 production) – and will have access to the entire WCPM repertoire.

These are the finalists and their projects:


Vergiss.Mich.Nie ("Never Forget Me") by Elena Clavadetscher & Yvonne Haberstroh, Zurich University of the Arts, Cast / Audiovisual Media Department

Eyes & Ears of Europe
Eyes & Ears of Europe


"Vergiss.mich.nie" is an Instagram series about the fate of Swiss Verding children. In the fictional story, Anna is 14 years old when she is sent to a farm. There she becomes a work slave and has to endure violence and abuse. Nevertheless, she never gives up hope of returning to her mother. In her stories she tries to draw attention to her situation and to cope with what she has experienced.
Her stories were available in real time between 4 and 24 May and can now be viewed in the highlights. Archive images and illustrations in the Instagram feed are used to provide insights into life from 1900-1978, with the aim of giving viewers an understanding of the times and society during that era.
"Very modern and contemporary presentation with a great realisation", says our jury.


Grapefruit by Hannah-Lisa Paul, Academy of Media Arts Cologne

Eyes & Ears of Europe
Eyes & Ears of Europe


The spot "Grapefruit" aims to make the concept of "female genital mutilation" or "female circumcision", which is abstract for many people, tangible by showing very clearly and directly but still in an artistic form what exactly happens during this terrible ritual – via the metaphor of the grapefruit.
Watching this spot is supposed to hurt, because you understand what is really going on. It is meant to raise awareness to the fact that this ritual is still happening, much closer than we think. Furthermore, the spot wants to raise awareness about what we can do about it and what Unicef is already doing to stop it.
Our jury says: "Hypersensitive topic excellently solved and brought to the point. Depressing, frightening and yet attention-grabbing."


KOPFKINO ("Mental Cinema") by Marcel Beck, RheinMain Hochschule

Eyes & Ears of Europe
Eyes & Ears of Europe


This six-part series tells the fictional story of a young woman in the Corona crisis who spends her free time observing her neighbour Julian. What at first seems like a harmless amusement activity develops into a veritable obsession. It is her flamboyant imagination that causes her neighbour's unspectacular pursuits to turn into epic spectacles. It soon becomes clear that the movie in her head is very different from reality and she loses herself in a dream world with Julian as the perfect man.
"A great realisation that plays humorously with the Corona theme," said the jury.


Deutelei by Friedrich Gräfe & Till Gerstmann, Hochschule Augsburg

Eyes & Ears of Europe
Eyes & Ears of Europe


The interdisciplinary short film "Deutelei" interprets the discussion about determinism and indeterminism on a content-related and visual level and offers an alternative way of dealing with it when mere philosophising no longer helps. The two currents are embodied on the one hand by fractal formations and ornaments that come to life and on the other hand by moving typography and textures. Both together form an expressive and unique symbiosis.
The jury says: "A captivating video with a great combination of music, animation and typography.”


The Morning After by Vera Gut, Zurich University of the Arts, Cast / Audiovisual Media Department

Eyes & Ears of Europe
Eyes & Ears of Europe


How do I prevent pregnancy, how do I avoid STIs and why do I bleed once a month? That is what you learn in school. However, what the topic of sexuality triggers emotionally in young women is hardly ever addressed. That's why those very important questions are discussed in the English-language Instagram magazine "The Morning After".
According to the jury, a "super relevant topic in which the complex issues are broken down into simple, but never trivialising texts. The address for the target group was very well chosen and the animation was simple on the visual level, but varied in its implementation with different colour worlds."


You decide which project wins! As a participant at the EYES & EARS 2021 Special Edition on 25 November, you will see all the presentations live and vote for your favourite. The winning team will be awarded a prize at the Awards Show.

Eyes & Ears of Europe

We would like to thank our dedicated jurors:
Prof. Claudia Aymar, Arif Basaran, Sarina Baumann, Prof. Manfred Becker, Mark Fleig, Sebastian Geller, Volker Hundertmark, Kübra Idi, Stefan Kuhnert, Ralf Legroux, Denis Ludwig, Florian Mengel, Irina Neuwert, Rafael Penades, Maria Regenspurger, Patrick Ruch, Anne Vogt, Thomas Wecker, Annabelle Wick and Manuel Wieslhuber.