The closing ceremony of the 34th Warsaw Film Festival took place on 20 October 2018 in Warsaw at Kinoteka. "The 190 films that we've presented this year at our festival were selected out of 5,000 submissions. What distinguishes us from other film festivals in Poland is the number of premieres we are presenting; we have over a dozen world premieres, European premieres, Cent-Eastern European premieres and Polish premieres. We like to seek out what is fresh in the cinema and we promote debutants. I hope that this year's winners will follow in the footsteps of Michael Haneke, Asghar Farhadi, Lenny Abrahamson and Cristian Mungiu, that came to us before they became famous, and we were proud to discover their films for the world," director of the Warsaw Film Festival Stefan Laudyn told FNE.
The International Competition Jury members, including Piers Handling (Canada), Tolga Karaçelik (Turkey), Joanna Kos-Krauze (Poland), Nik Powell (UK) and Marek Rozenbaum (Israel), gave the Warsaw Grand Prix founded by the City of Warsaw to The Delegation directed by Bujar Alimani, a coproduction between Albania, France, Greece and Kosovo.
Anca Damian was awarded with the Best Director prize for her work on Moon Hotel Kabul, a Romanian/French coproduction, and the Special Jury Award went to actress Martina Apostolova for her work in Irna, a Bulgarian film directed by Nadejda Koseva.
The drama Her Job directed by. Nikos Labôt, a coproduction between Greece, France and Serbia, won the First Award in the 1-2 Competition. The main prize in the Documentary Competition went to Putting Lipstick on a Pig, an Estonian/Finnish film directed by Johan Karrento and the Short Grand Prix for the best short film was awarded to The Weightlifter directed by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, a coproduction between Poland and the Ukraine.
The FIPRESCI Jury members, including Ida Rud Nielsen (Denmark), Monika Talarczyk (Poland), Artavazd Yeghiazaryan (Armenia), gave the award for the best debut from Eastern Europe to the film Her Job.
Full list of winners:
Warsaw Grand Prix (Award funded by the President of the Capital City of Warsaw)
The Delegation / Delegacioni (Albania, France, Greece, Kosovo)
Directed by Bujar Alimani
Best Director
Anca Damian for Moon Hotel Kabul (Romania, France)
Produced by Aparte Film
Coproduced by Cinema Defacto
Supported by the Romanian Film Centre, the MEDIA Programme
Special Jury Award
Martina Apostolova, actress in Irna (Bulgaria)
Directed by Nadejda Koseva
Produced by Artfest
Supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center
Special Mention
Eight out of Ten / Ocho de cada diez (Mexico)
Directed by Sergio Umansky Brener
COMPETITION 1-2
Competition 1-2 Winner: First Award
Her Job (Greece, France, Serbia)
Directed by Nikos Labôt
Produced by Homemade Films, Sister Productions, Sense Production (Serbia)
Special Mentions
Mate (China)
Directed by Dae-gun Jung,
Pure Lad (China)
Directed by Zhenyu Sun
FREE SPIRIT COMPETITION
Free Spirit Award
Out (France)
Directed by Denis Parrot
Special Mention
Heavy Trip (Finland)
Directed by Juuso Laatio, Jukka Vidgren
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Best Documentary Feature
Putting Lipstick on A Pig (Estonia, Finland)
Directed by Johan Karrento
Produced by Zero - Fullt noll AB
Special Mention
Fading Mountains (China)
Directed by Yuxi Cui
SHORT FILMS COMPETITION
Short Grand Prix
Weightlifter (Poland, Ukraine)
Directed by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk
Produced by Munk Studio - Polish Filmmakers Association
Best Live Action Short
My Branch So Thin (Russia, France)
Driected by Dinara Droukarova
Best Animated Short
Grand Bassin (France)
Directed by Héloïse Courtois, Victori Jalabert, Chloé Plat, Adele Raigneau
Best Documentary Short
The Last Line of Fisherman (Sweden)
Directed by Karolin Axelsson, Sweden
FIPRESCI Award
Her Job
Directed by Nikos Labôt
Ecumenical Jury Award
Irna
Directed by Nadejda Koseva
Special Mention
The Delegation
Directed by Bujar Alimani
NETPAC Award
The Fall (China)
Directed by Zhou Lidong
