FNE at Jihlava IDFF: Under the Sun Wins CEE Competition, No Prize in Czech Competition

02-11-2015

FNE at Jihlava IDFF: Under the Sun Wins CEE Competition, No Prize in Czech Competition

By FNE Staff

Under the Sun by Vitaly Mansky

JIHLAVA: Vitaly Mansky’s documentary about life in South Korea seen through the life of a Korean family and their young daughter, Under the Sun, won the best film in the Between the Seas competition of films from Central and Eastern Europe at the 19th Jihlava IDFF’s closing ceremony on 31 October 2015.

The Czech/Russian/German/North Korean fllm produced by Czech company Hypermarket Film could also be seen as a sort of consolation prize in light of the decision by the jury of the Czech national competition, Czech Joy, not to award a best film prize. Instead it gave out two special mentions.

Festival director Marek Hovorka was understanding in his response, noting the low budgets that Czech documentary filmmakers typically work with, which are only 5-10 percent of a fiction feature film budget. In an accompanying industry panel discussion on funding for Czech documentaries, one commentator noted that unlike their counterparts in Hungary, Poland or Romania, Czech producers were not aiming at making bigger budget documentaries with a greater international appeal.

Czech films were awarded in other categories, including the Audience Award which went to Vit Klusak’s Matrix AB which, in fact, screened in the Czech Joy competition section.

The festival had a high number of industry guests as the industry programme, under Jarmila Outratova, added new components and invited several high profile speakers, including Julian Assange and Pussy Riot. The festival noted 3,500 accreditations and selected its 233 films from over 3,400 film submissions.

The list of winners follows:

Opus Bonum

Dead Slow Ahead (Spain, France)
Directed by Mauro Herce

Between the Seas

Under the Sun (Czech Republic, Russia, Gemany, North Korea)
Directed by Vitaly Mansky
Produced by Hypermarket Film

Czech Joy

Special Mention

Tears of Steel: Vladimír Stehlík Meets Lubomír Krystlík (Czech Republic)
Directed by Ondrej Sejnoha
Produced by Studio FAMU

Special Mention

Czech Against Czechs (Czech Republic)
Directed by Tomas Kratochvil
Produced by Hypermarket Film

Best Film Debut

Flotel Europa (Serbia, Denmark)
Directed by Vladimir Tomic