The winners take it all
The Festival jury:
"This film sheds light on an interpreter who is expected to become a tool at asylum hearings, which creates a conflict between her values and the obligations imposed by her work. The director is in full command of her cinematic tools, which she uses to translate her script into an intensely engaging film.
The VFF Young Talent Award for best film goes to THE VOICE OF OTHERS by Fatima Kaci."
The ARTE jury:
"The ARTE jury has chosen to award its prize to an animated film from the Łódź school. This autobiographical film takes a sensitive and accurate look at the transitional period that studying represents.
It’s a mise en abyme that raises a number of essential questions regarding time management; the need to test an idea and know how to bounce back; and the place of intimacy, ego, and the immeasurable amount of work that goes into an animated film.
It’s also a tribute to the family and the need for emotional support that is so widely discussed at schools and universities these days.
The ARTE Short Film Prize goes to THIS WILL NOT BE A FESTIVAL FILM by Julia Orlik."
The Wolfgang Längsfeld jury:
"As members of this year’s Wolfgang Längsfeld jury, we had the task of selecting the most original short film from film academies worldwide. Director Miranda Namicheishvili’s movie THE LOAD presents a narrative on migration in a unique manner.
The film centers around Matthew, a young man from Georgia who’s preparing to achieve his ambitious goal: to get to America locked inside a wooden box. He soon discovers that he is not the only one with this dream, as he encounters other passengers hidden in the cargo ship.
Miranda’s use of simple camera techniques, natural lighting, and a very specific setting crafts a chamber play with an extraordinary atmosphere. The exceptional synergy between the acting, cinematography, and music creates a captivating and uniquely cinematic style.
This film stood out to us not just for its visual style and innovative narrative approach, but also for its touching story. It’s a tale of resilience and human connection in the face of hardship. The film approaches the subject of migration through a humanist lens, rather than just a political one. We experience the treacherous journey through the eyes of our protagonist — a person with a sense of humor, pain, fear, and, of course, feelings. While respecting the seriousness of the subject, the filmmaker also works with comedic elements, offering a multifaceted perspective.
Through its powerful cinematic metaphor of refugee situations, THE LOAD compels us to ponder: perhaps as a society, it’s time to start thinking outside the box."
The Festival jury:
"This award goes to a hybrid film whose director offers us a glimpse into the life of a young matador in the Spanish countryside, marked by a constant battle between life and death. The filmmaker captures intimate moments and crafts striking images in which tradition and modernity are in conflict, as the young man searches for a path toward his uncertain future.
The ARRI Award for best documentary goes to TO DIE BEFORE DYING by Jesús Lacorte."
The Festival jury:
"For combining two genres, animation and documentary, as well as combining the past and the present, the political and the personal, and building collective memory — resisting erasure — the award for best animation goes to ESSAY FOR THE MEMORY by Denise Vanesa Chirich Barreira. "
The Festival jury:
"For reflecting the emotional condition of his character in hypnotizing black-and-white imagery, which serves the poetic language of the film, the Student Camera Award for best cinematography goes to Song Zhi Yi for TODAY'S SUNLIGHT FALLS WEAKLY ON YOU by Lim Yuzheng."
The Festival jury:
"The Panther Prize for the best European production goes to a film that creates a sharp analysis of the human condition. It paints a portrait of a group of people pushed to their limits, generating a spiraling tension.
The award goes to THE OTHER END OF THE STREET by Kálmán Nagy."
The Interfilm Jury:
"The 2023 Prix Interculturel, the Bernd Sauter Trophy and the grant of € 2,000 go to THE BOY by Yahav Winner.
Avinoam and Barak, father and son on a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip, farm their fields without saying a lot. Barak’s gaze keeps wandering to the other side of the gigantic barbed-wire fence. This film depicts this (generational) conflict in images that are emphatically calm, but beneath the surface the tension is seething and the situation threatens to escalate.
On October 7, Yahav Winner was murdered in the Kfar Aza kibbutz by members of the terror organization Hamas. The Interfilm Academy Munich will use THE BOY as a starting point to promote intercultural discussion in memory of the slain director and of the thousands of Israeli and Palestinian people killed in the ensuing conflict in the Middle East."
The Festival jury:
"“Barak appears in a close-up medium shot, immersed in what’s on television. He sits on the floor and leans against the living-room table. Behind him is an empty couch. We hear an announcer on the TV, speaking in English about a military operation in Gaza. Ido takes a seat on the couch with a bowl of popcorn, grabs the remote control, and changes the channel. Now from the screen come the shrill voices of an entertainment show...”
This film alarms us urgently to how war becomes our everyday reality. We are deeply sorry that he is not with us to celebrate this great achievement.
The Best Screenplay Award goes to THE BOY by Yahav Winner."
The Festival jury:
"Our Special mention goes to a documentary that continues a story seen every day on the news, as it follows a mortician on the Spanish coast. This film describes the picturesque Mediterranean as what it is for so many: a grave. The director captures the subject in clear visuals with great empathy and tact.
We award the honorable mention to CADÁVER by Benjamin Kodboel."
The Climate Clips jury:
“This video clip shows perfectly animated scenes of a fantastical production line in a Barbie-style world of plastic. We learn how a piece of cheese is turned into an industrial product that becomes part of the overwhelming assortment in temples to consumerism operated by a globally networked industry and ultimately ends up as environmental pollution in a landfill. This clip criticizes both the industry’s empty promises of organic production and the naivety of consumers who do not question such practices as long-distance transport and climate-damaging packaging. The directors attest that all the film sets were built from recycled packaging waste and leftover materials. In conclusion, the jury congratulates the two directors and their team on receiving the 1st prize of the Climate Clips Award.”
The Climate Clips jury:
"A young man in a modern apartment, where the TV is on and fish are swimming in a beautiful aquarium, reads about the global phenomenon of climate change on his cell phone, scrolling ever more nervously in order to find out everything he can. He’s unaware of the dramatic effect on his own surroundings. As he studies the frightening news about the growing danger of climate change, his house is destroyed by windstorms and fire, as in the televised report. The aquarium remains a sad testimony to his loss of control. This threatening scenario becomes a parable about human ignorance and excessive dependence on modern media. The jury awards the 2nd prize of the Climate Clips Award to this cautionary film and congratulates it on addressing a global transformation that is affecting all continents equally."
The Climate Clips jury:
"Three young people, their generation’s witnesses, enjoy their modern life until the media reveal horrifying news about the rising level of CO2 in the atmosphere, calling their future into question and leading to worldwide protests against the destruction of our shared habitat. According to this clip, the protests are followed by reflection on one’s own contribution and a call for personal responsibility: what individuals can do to combat the game-changer of climate change, such as relinquishing expectations and habits, deliberately exercising restraint, and offering their own solutions. The impetus to make a motivating appeal for proactive behavior won over the jury, which, in awarding the 3rd prize of the Climate Clips Award, also thanked the director for this dazzling sequence of cinematic impressions, a kaleidoscopic view of this pivotal moment in time."
