Former mgp Student Wins German Film Award

Claudio Demel, along with Billie Mind, Kai Tebbel, Sebastian Heyser, and Jürgen Schulz, is being honored for Best Sound Design in “In die Sonne schauen.”

02.06.2026 · Press release · Editorial Office: jd

A woman in an evening gown is walking to the left of four men in suits, all of whom are holding a prize in their hands
Gisa Flake (left), who presented the award, with Claudio Demel (right) and the other winners of the Best Sound Design award. © German Film Award 2026/Clemens Porikys

The film prevailed over four other nominees in this category and went on to win nine more Lolas throughout the evening. It tells the story of four women from different eras—Alma (1910s), Erika (1940s), Angelika (1980s), and Nelly (2020s)—whose lives are eerily intertwined, as they all spent their childhoods and youth on a secluded farm in the Altmark region. Actress, cabaret artist, and singer Gisa Flake emphasized the importance of sound in a film in her laudatory speech, which she delivered to the tune of the James Bond classic “GoldenEye”: “It condenses stories and defines the mix,” Flake explained, before calling freelance film sound engineer and sound designer Claudio Demel—who now lives in Berlin—as well as Billie Mind, Kai Tebbel, Sebastian Heyser, and Jürgen Schulz onto the stage. Claudio Demel studied Media Design and Production at Hochschule Offenburg from March 2010 to June 2014. He then specialized in film sound and sound design at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg.