The only two awards going to CEE films went to Polish films. Zuzanna Solakiewicz’s Polish/German coproduction 15 Corners of the World won the Best Documentary prize and Rollercoaster by Marek Marlikowski received a special recognition in the Short Film category.
The festival, which faced a scaled-back budget and uncertainty over its 16th edition, nevertheless put together a full scale week-long event but without an industry section and fewer guests. Festival director Vladimir Krajniak forged a creative partnership with the Berlin Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office which presented a section of new Hong Kong cinema, one of a handful of such activities in the CEE region that the relatively new Berlin office is actively pursuing.
The festival’s Slovak offerings, most of them in the Made in Slovakia section, represented a cross section of Slovakia’s directing talent working in multiple genres. Jaro Vojtek represented Slovakia in the feature film competition with his four-part omnibus film Children produced by MPhilms, and while it failed to win a festival award, it was a promising feature film debut from the noted documentary filmmaker. Vojtek told FNE he is working on the script for his second feature film. Despite Slovakia’s reputation as a documentary powerhouse, there were no Slovak films in the Documentary Competition section.
Along with the prizes for the winning films, the festival also honoured the Oscar-winning Czech designer Theodor Pistek and screened the director’s cut of Amadeus.
The complete list of awarded films follows:
Grand Prix:
Party Girl (France)
Directed by Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger, Samuel Theis
Best Actress:
Angelique Litzenburger
Party Girl
Best Actor:
Fabricio Boliveira
Brazil Western (Brazil)
Directed by René Sampaio
Best Director:
Nguyen Hoang Diep
Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere (Vietnam, France, Norway, Germany)
FIPRESCI Award:
I Am Yours (Norway)
Directed by Iram Haq
Student Award:
Party Girl
Best Documentary:
Not All is Vigil (Spain, Colomba)
Directed by Hermes Paralluelo
Special Mention:
15 Corners of the World (Poland, Germany)
Directed by Zuzanna Solakiewicz
Produced by Endorfina Studio, Hupe Films (Germany)
Supported by the Polish Film Institute, the Mazovia Film Fund
Best Short Film:
A Million Miles Away (USA)
Directed by Jennifer Reeder
Special Mention:
Rollercoaster (Poland)
Directed by Marek Marlikowski
Produced at the Radio and Television Department of the University of Silesia in Katowice
Supported by the Polish Film Institute
