The Grand Prix in the feature film competition went to La Sirga, a Colombian/French/Mexican coproduction directed by William Vega. But the clear favorites of the night were Epilogue by Israeli director Amir Manor, and Oh Boy by German director Jan Ole Gerster. Epilogue won four awards, including both the best actor and best actress awards. It shared the FEDORA award with Oh Boy which also picked up the FIPRESCI prize and the best director award.
The FEDORA award was handed out by one of two new juries added by the festival this year. The Bratislava IFF also launched a Slovak competition of feature films, an expansion of its former section of Slovak films, with the best Slovak film award and a prize of 3,000 EUR going to Made in Ash (www.protos.sk) from debuting director Iveta Grofova. FEDORA gave its award for best Slovak film to In the Shadow, a Czech/Slovak/Polish/US/Israeli coproduction, which was accepted by Trigon Production’s (www.trigon-production.sk) Patrik Pass.
Film Europe (www.filmeurope.eu) CEO Ivan Hronec presented the company’s annual award recognizing the international accomplishments of a promising young Slovak to 24-year old actress Gabriela Marcinkova, whose credits already include Neil Jordan’s Byzantium, the Danish film Move On, and the Jude Law/Anthony Hopkins drama 360. Speaking with FNE, Marcinkova said her next film is a Slovak thriller, Attonitas (www.attonitas.sk) which opens in Slovakia on 28 February 2013.
Bulgaria won the Best Documentary award for Sofia’s Last Ambulance (www.sia.bg) directed by Ilian Metev. Metev was on hand to receive the prize but made a quick exit, explaining he had to catch a plane that was leaving in less than two hours.
The festival management team Vladimir Krajniak and Vojtech Kabath told FNE that the festival was working on a reduced budget, and compensated by cutting the length to seven days and asking distributors to reduce their fees. The result was a festival that actually increased the number of international and industry guests, added a popular festival center site, and had two new juries. Artistic director Nenad Dukic also noted that cinemas were full for many of the screenings.
Dukic told FNE, “Next year we’ll concentrate on the Slovak Competition and making more use of the new festival center.” Building on those two elements looks like the clearest way to integrate Slovakia’s domestic industry with its blossoming European identity.
A complete list of awards follows:
Grand Prix for the Best Film
La Sirga directed by William Vega
BEST DIRECTOR
Jan Ole Gerster OH BOY
BEST ACTRESS
Rivka Gur in the film HAYUTA VE BERL / EPILÓG
BEST ACTOR
Yosef Carmon in the film HAYUTA VE BERL/ EPILÓG
STUDENT JURY AWARD
Hayuta ve Berl / Epilóg directed by Amir Manor
Documentary Jury
PRIZE FOR THE BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM
Poslednata lineika na Sofia / Posledná záchranka v Sofii directed by Ilian Metev
Short Films Jury
PRIZE FOR THE BEST SHORT FILM
Malody directed by Philip Barker
Short Films Jury
SPECIAL MENTION
Ovos de dinossauro na sala de estar / Dinosaurie vajcia v obývačke directed by Rafael Urban
FIPRESCI JURY AWARD
OH BOY!
FEDEORA JURY AWARD
OH BOY! and EPILOGUE
IN THE SHADOW / V TIENI
UNICREDIT BANK AWARD FOR THE BEST SLOVAK FEATURE FILM /
CENA UNICREDIT BANK ZA NAJLEPŠÍ SLOVENSKÝ CELOVEČERNÝ FILM
MADE IN ASH / AŽ DO MESTA AŠ
FILM EUROPE AWARD
Gabriela Marcinková
SLOVAK CINEMA AWARD
Štefan Kvietik
AWARD FOR CONTRIBUTION TO WORLD CINEMA
Goran Paskaljević
Jiří Krejčík
