The Jury Statements 2020
The Jury:
"HE PULLS HIS TRUCK is one of many films from this year’s lineup with a child in it's center. A film dealing with the difficulties that the weakest of our society have, struggling with violence and poverty. Kirill Proskurin never leaves Iyosha’s perspective. The small act of finding a toy truck becomes the biggest thing in the world and we finally understand why. That he has lost a father who was a truck driver. That he has not found a new father in his stepfather.
But we see him finding a new father in this difficult situation and that gives him strength and power for a short moment in his life. The script manages to tell me all these huge emotions with hardly any dialogue. The cinematography is always close to the boy and made him forget the camera, at least this is what it looks like, so we forget too, that we are watching a film. The acting is so precise in every gesture and word, so we even forget we are watching actors doing their work instead of real people.
A warm film full of empathy, beautifully crafted, that is everything we wish for a great short film. This is why we award HE PULLS HIS TRUCK with the VFF Young Talent Award."
The Jury of the ARTE-Shortfilm-Award:
"With strong visuals but narrative subtlety, the filmmaker takes us along to his home country. Confronted with reality and the major issues in Chinese society, the filmmaker manages within a short period of time to immerse himself in the suffering of a family and brilliantly document the rift between tradition and modernity. We congratulate filmmaker Hanxiong Bo on his extraordinary work DRIFTING and award him the 2020 ARTE Short Film Prize."
The Jury of the Wolfgang Längsfeld Award:
"The jury has chosen this unique film out of fifty movies. It was the only film which the jury independently voted unanimously as their favorite for the Wolfgang Längsfeld Award 2020. The film deals with a relevant and important subject,homophobia in Brazil, but just as importantly, it conveys it by telling a small, simple story, a human story. From the first shot, one can easily detect the creative, surprising, uncompromising way of thinking, so different from classic film language. An absurd situation exposes a bleak reality, but instead of distancing the audience, the film's colorful, vibrant frames exude a light-hearted, "inviting" sensation. This contrast illustrates the filmmaker's fascinating and unique point of view of the situation and enables the political messages gently and unobtrusively come through as part of the plot. We feel this courageous director goes all the way with his imagination, both visually and story-wise, and we wish to encourage this kind of approach in cinema."
The Jury:
"We are very happy to present the award for Best Documentary to FOR EUNICE. Staying with you long after the credits have rolled, this film pulls you right into the world of young Eunice, a subject who captivated us from the moment she appeared on screen. Told with sensitiveness, warmth, and a commitment to accuracy, the director captures both the uncertainty and the playful nature of childhood, showcasing the inner strength this young girl exhibits as she navigates her daily struggles and triumphs. An absolute delight of a film."
The Jury:
"We are thrilled to present the award for Best Animation to DAUGHTER. An original, heartfelt and beautifully realised narrative that is tightly constructed and powerfully affecting, brought to life by exquisite stop-motion animation. Rich themes and emotional complexity are conveyed effectively through the symbolic imagery, and the expressive eyes of the wordless characters. The gorgeously rendered diffusion of light, depth of field and tactile fibres of the hand-crafted animation combine to make this a deeply cinematic and profoundly moving piece of work, and a wonderful example of pure visual storytelling."
The Jury:
"We are very excited to present the award for Best Screenplay to HEADING SOUTH. Inspired by the writer-director's childhood, this story was a delight to behold. Deeply moving and tightly written, the story follows our young heroine as she navigates two worlds, varying in culture and language, ultimately having to choose. Capturing the tension of the situation while keeping the point of view firmly through the eyes of a child, the film displays great mastery in storytelling."
The Jury:
"A movie about love, portraying a powerful and uniquely intimate universe - indicating a work of a mature director behind the scenes. A beautiful visual journey, that can perfectly express the emotional deepness of the film. We can watch eternal shades of blue color, with a very sensual lighting on the two lonley sailor’s faces. The rippling of the sea in the film, waves through the whole story emotionally, and breaks our heart into thousand pieces in the final scenes. In the end, we will be totally connected with the sailor in love, who has been left behind by his lover, after his desperate running."
The Interfilm Jury:
"For Eunice. It sounds like a gift. A gift to that strong and moving girl called Eunice who we watch throughout this beautiful and genuine documentary discover what life already is and will be for a black overweight woman in a foreign country. We get to experience the cruelty between children, driven by the already existing prejudiced mindsets they have. We laugh and ache with Eunice, thanks to the delicate and trustful directing of Jaan Stevens. Without telling straightly anything, this short film unites us all by questioning our societies and how we let the next generation suffer from what we know should be stopped."
The Climate Clips Jury:
"Set in a red-light district of all places, this satire uses harsh words (“Ride a bike, fucker!”) and hard-hitting traffic statistics to make the case for switching from cars to bikes. The clip makes ironic use of a thriller-type scenario to refer to overdependence on automobiles. The jury congratulates the director and the team on their skillful visualization of an appeal to reason that’s addressed to all of us, and awards them the 1st prize for the original plot."
The Climate Clips Jury:
"This enchanting animation takes us into the depths of the ocean alongside a solitary diver who looks after injured animals in their endangered habitat. He finds a plastic deer, a sad relic of a civilization that dumps pollution and garbage into the oceans every day, and takes it back with him to put in the aquarium in his dreary bunker. The colorful underwater world contrasts with the gray silhouette of the city on the surface. The jury awards the 2nd prize to a well-made animated film with excellent sound and original music."
The Climate Clips Jury:
"A fictional scene shows a little girl on a diving platform, ready to jump into what is revealed to be nothing: a gaping, empty swimming pool. The message is as clear as it is obvious: “No water, no future.” It’s presented congruently within the shot, centered, head-on, seen from below, at eye level, and from above, shot in pastel hues. For this conciseness, shot in the shortest possible time, the jury awards the 3rd prize to a convincing commentary on one of the last resources in climate change."
