Iranian composer Atena Eshtiaghi has won the 2026 German Documentary Film Music Award for MATERIA PRIMA. This is her second win, following her 2024 award for MY STOLEN PLANET. The German Documentary Film Music Award is sponsored by the Versicherungskammer Kulturstiftung and comes with a prize of 5,000 euros. With this award, which is unique in Germany, the festival honours the artistic significance of music in documentary films. This year’s winning film, MATERIA PRIMA by director Jens Schanze, celebrates its German premiere at the 41st DOK.fest München (in cinemas: May 6–18, online: May 11–25).
About the film MATERIA PRIMA: European and Chinese consortia want to mine lithium—the “white gold” of the transition to sustainable energy—in Bolivia’s largest salt flat. The film follows negotiations between the state-owned company YLB and European corporate representatives, as well as the resistance of indigenous communities who fear for their water, environment, quinoa cultivation, and the mythological significance of the Tunupa volcano.
From the jury’s statement: “The music functions as an independent narrative force that sensitively accompanies the film whilst at the same time enhancing it with dramatic precision. Time and again, it emerges organically from the sound design and blends seamlessly with the visual language. With a keen sense of nuance, it conveys emotional subtleties – at times delicate and restrained, at others striking and haunting. It is precisely this balance of subtlety and expressiveness that noticeably elevates the film’s overall impact to a higher level.”
The jury comprised last year’s winner Mirjam Skal (musician and composer), Anke Petersen (film producer), Yulia Lokshina (director), Victor Gangl (film composer) and Dominik Giesriegl (film composer).
About the winner: The Iranian cellist and film composer Atena Eshtiaghi, born in 1989, studied classical music at the Tehran Conservatory of Music. She has also explored Persian music, electro, and jazz. Since 2007, she has worked as a soloist and orchestral musician, including with the Tehran Symphony Orchestra and the Iran National Orchestra. As a film composer, she has written the score for, among others, Pegah Ahangarani’s award-winning short documentary I’M TRYING TO REMEMBER and ENDLESS BORDERS. With MY STOLEN PLANET, she won the German Documentary Film Music Award at DOK.fest München for the first time in 2024. Atena Eshtiaghi lives in Hamburg.
It was here that she founded the Azadi duo with pianist Clara Haberkamp. She is also currently collaborating with singer and composer Golnar Shahyar.
The German Documentary Film Music Award will be presented at a gala ceremony with a film screening on Sunday 10 May at 8pm at the HFF Munich.
Photo from MATERIA PRIMA (c) Börres Weiffenbach
