12-10-2010

FESTIVALS: CEE FilmsTake Top Awards at CinePecs

By Cathy Meils

    PECS: Under the affable and capable guidance of festival director Janos Keresnyei, the 2nd edition of the revitalized CinePécs IFF handed out its top awards to films from Czech Republic, Poland, Turkey and Hungary during a televised closing ceremony on 10 October 2010. Marek Najbrt’s Czech Lion winner Protector won the festival’s 6,000 euro main award for a feature film. The documentary prize was shared by Turkish director Orhan Tekeoglu’s Ifakat and Poland’s Bartek Konopka and Piotr Rosolowski’s Rabbit a la Berlin. The inaugural Film New Europe/Visegrad Prix for best coproduction, valued at 7,500 euros, went to the Hungarian/Dutch/Austrian/French film Adrienn Pál directed by Ágnes Kocsis and produced by Ferenc Pusztai.

    Taking place in the south Hungarian city of Pécs, the country's jewel of a town and 2010 European Capital of Culture, CinePécs (www.cinepecs.hu) continues the town's film festival tradition following the relocation of the MovEast film festival last year. The festival is produced by the Southern Trans-Danubian Regional Film Fund (www.filmfundpecs.hu), retaining its focus on films from the Central European and Balkan territories.

    Adding to the prestige of the 2010 festival, Cine-Regio, the network of regional film funds, conducted its 2010 annual meeting under the banner of CinePécs, drawing Hungarian filmmakers and international film funding representatives.

    The international juries, composed of Jiri Menzel (Czech Republic), Igor Korsic (Slovenia), Annamaria Percavassi (Italy), Andrei Grusniczki (Romania), and Andras Muhi for feature films, and Gyorgy Szomjas (Hungary), Sergey Stanojkovski (Germany) and Katalin Turnacker (Hungary) for documentary films, awarded the following prizes:

    PROXIMA Prize: Protector, dir. Marek Najbrt, Negativ (www.negativ.cz)

    Documentary Prize: Ifakat, dir. Orhan Tekeoglu, MedyaTon (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

    and

    Rabbit a la Berlin, dir. Bartek Konopka and Piotr Rosolowski, MS Film (www.msfilms.pl)

    European Capital of Culture Pecs Prize: Three Weddings, dir. Viktor Oszkar Nagy, Anna Kis, Klara Trencsenyi, Campfilm (www.campfilm.eu)

    and

    Devil's Town, dir. Vladimir Paskaljevic, MT Images Media

    Award of the City of Pecs: Dirty Days, dir/prod. Helmut Berger

    Kodak Cinelab and Focus Fox award for best post-production: Devil's Town, dir. Vladimir Paskaljevic

    Award of the City of Pecs: Sevdah for Karim, dir. Jasmin Durakovic, Artedelux/Depo/Tivoli Film (www.tivolifilms.com), Concorde Film Trust

    Student best film award: Zero, dir Pawel Borkowski, Opus Film (www.filmzero.com)

    Film New Europe/Visegrad Prix for best coproduction: Adrienn Pál, dir. Ágnes Kocsis, KMH Film (www.kmhfilm.hu)