The Ecumenical Jury at the Max Ophüls Prize 2022 has awarded its prize to "Moneyboys" by C.B. Yi. The film was also awarded Best Feature Film and the Fritz Raff Screenplay Award by the festival jury. Lorenz Merz received the prize of the Saarland Minister President for Best Director for his film "Soul of a Beast" . "Soul of a Beast", which had already won the Ecumenical Jury Prize at the Locarno Film Festival, also received the Film Critics' Prize for Best Feature Film.
The 43rd Max Ophüls Preis Film Festival opened on 16 January with the dystopian science fiction film "Everything Will Change" by Marten Persiel (winner of the audience award; Germany, Netherlands 2021). The festival, extended to 11 days, took place in a hybrid form in cinemas on site and with streaming offers. The feature film competition, from which the Ecumenical Jury, among others, chose its prize winner, comprised 10 entries; other competition sections were dedicated to medium-length films, documentaries and short films..