Women Win Big at the Friss Hús Budapest ISFF Awards Ceremony

08-06-2023

Women Win Big at the Friss Hús Budapest ISFF Awards Ceremony

credit: Friss Hús Budapest International Short Film Festival

Awards of the XI. Friss Hús Budapest International Short Film Festival announced

Among the Hungarian films in the competition, AFFRIKÁTA and 27 won; the story of the French ROADTRIPPER was awarded in the international selection. Adél Kováts and Rozi Székely took home the award for Best Acting Performance.

XI. Friss Hús Budapest International Film Festival took place with a full house screening. The festival winners were announced at the award ceremony on Wednesday at the Puskin cinema in the capital of Hungary.

The award for the best Hungarian live-action short film went to the film AFFRIKATA. The jury's reasoning: "This film surprised us by subverting stereotypes and presenting a complete portrait of a woman emerging from the shadow of her daughters and embracing the light and attention she hasn't felt for quite some time."

The award for the best Hungarian animated film was won by the film 27, which won Palme d’Or short film at Cannes in May. The Jury's Reasoning: “With its dazzling visual style and cinematic storytelling, Hungary's best animated short goes to 27 by Buda Flóra Anna, a contemporary work that takes us by the hand to explore the fantasies and boundaries of a woman of the younger generation.”

Adél Kováts, the main character of the film AFFRIKÁTA, and Rozi Székely, the main character of NIKO, won the Best Acting Performance Award.

The Most Promising Director Under 30 was awarded to Anna Korom for the film NIKÓ, which, according to the jury's reasoning, “Through a course of absurd situations this film follows a character longing to be free and in search of new beginnings. With a maturity to the storytelling that was quite impressive.”

In the Hungarian competition program, two special prizes were awarded: Máté Bögi's work entitled The Swimmer and Olivér Hegyi’s animation short, The Garden of Heart.

The members of the Hungarian jury were Lisa Ogdie, Short Film Programmer for the Sundance Film Festival, Julie Marnay, program director of the European Short Pitch, and Polish filmmaker Kuba Czekaj.

The Association of Hungarian Feature Film Director’s special award went to Marcell Farkas, creator of the film AGE OF THE DRAGON. The prize is 3000 EUR worth of VFX/headline production opportunity offered by Berger Studios.

This year, for the first time, in addition to the professional jury, students were also active participants and decision-makers in the judging of the Hungarian competition films. The Student jury prize went to Ádám Nagy's film Reality Filter. The student jury highlighted the following in its justification: "The film deals with a topic that is an integral part of our generation, the impact of social media. It shows what we young consumers usually don't see and confronts us with the double life of content creators. For example, maintaining the illusion of happiness or the responsibility of role models. This should be given significant emphasis in today's world. The film tools and solutions were in line with the film's theme, and the video solution was particularly imaginative."

The student jury of Friss Hús was made up of three high school students: Rebeka Farkas, Dániel Hunyi, Márton Páncélos.

The Best International Film went to ROADTRIPPER, the work of the French Christophe Granger shows the vulnerability of human connections and the fragile existence on the social periphery in a very intense and unique way. It portrays plastically the tragic difference between material sexuality as the instrument of power and the desire for real intimacy with enlightening force. Theó Augier Bonaventure’s acting, presence and passion is just outstanding.

The jury also awarded 3 special prizes in the international competition program. A special prize was awarded to the film FUCKING HEAD by Grégory Carnoli and Thibaut Wohlfahrt. The film touches on Europe’s social, political and cultural problems, holding up a mirror to all that bureaucratic values or practices represent. It does so with outstanding acting, bittersweet irony and empathy.

Lithuanian CHERRIES also received a special award. Vytautas Katkus' film is a brave and touching movie in the complete unity of theme and form. Brave, because it uses the dramaturgical structure in a unique and mysterious way, but it still can be satisfying, it just stays with us. Touching, because it can show a relationship between a father and son in a grotesque, intimate and very emotional way without any clichés. The scene of listening to music together just breaks the walls.

Sander Joon's film SIERRA was also recognized with a special award. According to the justification: In a humorous and delicate manner, this short film explores the depth of the tumultuous and frantic yearning for familial closeness. Another special mention goes to “Sierra” by Sander Joon.

The awards for the international competition program were decided by film distribution specialist Sasha Prokopenko, the program director of Ukraine's largest short film event, the Kyiv International Short Film Festival, animated film director and producer József Fülöp, rector of the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, and the multi-award winning Szilárd Bernáth, director of Larry.

Audience awards were also announced in four categories: in the Queer Dreams section, the American Mike Donahue's film TROY received the most votes, the French film CENSOR OF DREAMS (directors Raphaël Rodriguez & Leo Berne) in the @Midnight horror block was awarded by the viewers, among the international documentaries Zsófia Paczolay's BUDAPEST SILO enjoyed the greatest popularity. In the international competition the Portuguese João Gonzalez's film ICE MERCHANTS was chosen by the audience as the best.

WINNERS

HUNGARIAN COMPETITION

Best Hungarian Live Action Film - Affrikáta, dir: Anna Gyimesi

Best Hungarian Animation Film - 27, dir: Flóra Anna Buda

Best actor - Adél Kováts (Affrikáta), Rozi Székely (Nikó)

Most promising director under the age of 30 - Anna Korom Anna (Nikó)

Special prizes of the Hungarian competition

The Swimmer, dir: Máté Boegi

The Garden of Heart, dir: Olivér Hegyi

Special award of the Association of Hungarian Feature Film Directors

Age of Dragon, dir: Marcell Farkas

Student jury award