After ten years the European John Templeton Film Award ends. For the last time awarded to Jasmila Zbanic’s “Grbavica”, it carried a prize money of 10.000.- € donated by the John Templeton Foundation and was chosen by an INTERFILM jury among the ecumenical award winners of the previous year, as well as the “Film of the Month” nominations by the Protestant Film Jury in Germany resp. by the Catholic and Protestant Film Commissioners in Switzerland. After the John Templeton Foundation withdraw its sponsorship due to changes in the aims and purposes of project funding, INTERFILM was unable to continue the award.

At the 10th anniversary of the award in 2007 a book with the sermons of INTERFILM Honourable President Hans Werner Dannowski devoted to the awarded films was published. Since the establishing of the award in 1997 the award ceremony took place during a church service in Berlin, first in the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedaechtniskirche, then in the Matthaeus Kirche at the Cultural Forum. This kind of presenting the award was highly appreciated by the winning directors. Even if they did not pursue religious purposes in their films specifically, the importance of their artistic work for the dialogue between church, religion and film was highlighted by the ceremony.

The European John Templeton Film Award was dedicated to films of high artistic quality, lending expression to a human viewpoint in keeping with the message of the Scriptures, or stimulating debate; and making audiences sensitive to spiritual and social values and questions. These criteria are the basis for the awards of the Ecumenical Jurys as well.