Award For In-House Production

Good News: Berlin Videographers' founder and producer Robert Ackermann was awarded the German Media Prize for Neurology 2025.

Robert investigated what has been achieved in ALS research ten years after the Ice Bucket Challenge. In doing so, he documents significant therapeutic advances. There are now gene therapy drugs that prevent the progression of genetic variants of ALS. Even though the new therapies can only help a small proportion of those affected, the experts interviewed in the film consider this to be “historic,” an important milestone on the way to one day being able to treat other forms of ALS more effectively. Without the Ice Bucket Challenge, the funds it raised for research, and the widespread public attention and empathy, this research progress would not have been possible, in their opinion. The film illustrates what this means for patients by featuring two women affected by the disease, 19-year-old Anna and 62-year-old Elke. Both cases are deeply moving, showing the brutality of the disease, but also offering hope.

“Robert Ackermann's film is emotionally moving, and both patients deserve great credit for agreeing to take part and allowing the public to share in their fate. Robert Ackermann has succeeded in creating a sensitive portrait, with a compact documentary of a research sensation – and, last but not least, with a portrayal of what can be achieved with support from society,” concluded the laudator.