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TERRITORY ON THE MOVE
FIRST PRIZE
BITTER MILK by Nasser Zamiri, Iran/Afghanistan
An excellent quality’s short film about the tragedy of war, that broaches an awful subject: children’s sale. The firm “no” of a mother, the main character, perhaps doesn’t give a hope, but it is still a NO. An award that goes to both narrative and directorial skills.
SECOND PRIZE
RAJU by Max Zahle, Germany
For the engaging subject of a film played on an excellent level of tension. The main characters alternate strength and weakness; each of them maintaining their own role until the final decision.
THIRD PRIZE
LIGHTS by Giulio Ricciarelli, Germany
A film whose humour is subtle and never banal, full of clever and amusing ideas.
SPECIAL MENTION
SILENT RIVER by Anca Miruna Lazarescu, Romania
A work able to tell with great originality the tragedy of escaping from the former Communist Countries, making it a metaphor for a human condition common to all fugitives of every time and country.
WOMEN'S ISSUES
FIRST PRIZE EX – AEQUO
ISOLDA by Katerina Kucher, Ukraine
For the delicate and mysterious atmosphere that surrounds, between past and present, the ecounter of a woman in her twilight years, and the mysterious appearance of a girl who holds the secret of time inside herself. The actresses’ performance is amazing and it is further enhanced by the elegance of the directioral style.
MI HATICE by Denis D. Metin, Turkey
For the visual tension and the quiet emotion with which the film tells, with sheer filmic solutions, the silent obstinacy of a woman wounded, but not defeated, by life.
SPECIAL MENTION
BIONDINA by Laura Bispuri, Italy
For the vibrant portrait of a relationship between mother and daughter, from which emerges, with a simple and pithy narrative idea, the anxiety of freedom and communication of an adolescence embodied by a young actress of great skill.
ANIMATION
FIRST PRIZE
JUNK by Kirk Hendry, England
This ode to junk reminds of Ionesco, when he says that "humanity is in an abyss with no possibility of ascent." Junk is not a contemporary film, but it looks already into the future with dark and Burtonian eyes. We are on the verge of food collapse, billions of mouths to be fed, and here is the stroke of genius of the film, the ultimate metaphor: eating the inedible, feasting at the dump of the impossible: tyres, tar and barbed wire, lonely delicacies for a guy who decided to be alone, live alone, eat alone, enjoying its food and existential distress. And when, out of curiosity, Jasper tries to bite a small leaf of lettuce, here he is poisoning himself and writhing in disgust and pain, until he goes to seek solace and salvation in a tanker. At his death his body will eventually rest in the same dump that nourished him during his short life. It strikes the originality of the animation, which, with its Gothic reminiscences, moves the possibilities of computer animation a step further. The style enhances the scriptwriting which, in change, returns the favour, in a perfect blend of creativity and modernity. But what does this film convey: a wish? A warning? A destiny? If in doubt, we can trust the words of the main character’s doctor and broaden their horizon: "Gentlemen, pray for your health!"
SPECIAL MENTION
BABEL by Hendrick Dusollier, France
Majestic. Sumptuous. Monumental. This is Babel, an important production as far as investment and craft are concerned.A remarkable example of how France supports and believes in culture, even in its less profitable forms, as a short film may be. Babel is a technically perfect picture of modern China, an authentic and relentless engine of our third millennium’s economy. This overbearing transition from the rurality of the past to the modernity of the future is conveyed by minimal details opposed to perfect tracking shots that accompany the two main characters from the top of their mountains to the skyscrapers of Shanghai rising, symbolically and biblically, between the clouds after having demolished history, leaving intact the tradition. In such visual and resounding thunder, the final ending persists in the eyes and in the memory: the symbolic and enigmatic simplicity of a female nude, a last foothold to humanity, almost a hope.
SPECIAL MENTION
DAISY CUTTER by Eriche Garcia & Rubèn Salazar, Spain
The best script of the entire section, in the service of a perfect animation in the tradition of the "beautiful but already seen". The touching story of little Zaira, who collects daisies for a friend killed by the war until a final ending where other more implacable daisies, the "Daisy Cutter", will enable her to reach him blasting her off in the umpteenth attack made in the apparent daily quietness of a place in perpetual conflict. Between the narrative folds there is poetry praising pathos and leading to emotion, in a crescendo of emotions held together until the final explosion. Daisy Cutter is a film that leaves its mark just like the bombs from which it takes its name, because, like them, it is cruel and unforgiving.
YOUTH COMPETITION
FIRST PRIZE
ZEITFENSTER by Jimmy Grassiant, Germany
For the intensity of its eye and the deep interest shown by the director towards an issue that can not make us not think.