In 2008 the festival awarded the Mannheim-Heidelberg Film Culture Prize for the first time. The award honours institutions and individuals who rendered great merit to the preservation and expansion of film culture in Germany. There were six winners: the ZDF editorial team "Das kleine Fernsehspiel", the editorial team of "Debüt im Dritten" of the SWR, the producer Peter Rommel, the distributors Thorsten Frehse and Wulf Sörgel from Neue Visionen, the WDR editorial office for film and series and Vision Kino, the network for film and media competence.
The Ecumenical Jury awarded its prize to the Canadian film "Borderline" by Lyne Charlebois, which also received the FIPRESCI Prize and an Honorable Mention from the International Jury headed by Edgar Reitz. The main prize, the Grand Prix of Mannheim-Heidelberg, went to "Lluvia" (The Rain) by Paula Hernández from Argentina, who also received a Commendation from the Ecumenical Jury.