Grand Prix: HUNTSVILLE STATION

What is freedom? What can someone's face and body tell us about it? How does it feel to be released after years of imprisonment? Believing in the power of cinema, “Huntsville Station” searches for answers to these questions. A group of inmates are released from the Penitentiary; they are waiting for a bus. With a precise and respectful distance, the film gets close to them with a calm and judgement-free observation. There is no fear of connection. For this film, everyone is innocent.

Special Mention:  

STAY AWAKE, BE READY

Reality can be very strange nowadays. You just have to stay awake and be ready in order to transit the limits of control. With a clever and subtle mise en scène, this film not only takes us through a tremendous yet trivial night in Vietnam, but it also shows a wide range of experiences on the societal spectrum.

Special Mention:

HOW TO DISAPPEAR

What are the limitations of individualism in a theoretical warfare? This film uses the perspective of a first-person-shooter game as cinema applies point-of-view shots. Inaugurating digital pacifism, “How to Disappear” is a humorous, surprisingly poetic and intelligent ode to deserters.

Ukrainian Competition

Jury of the Ukrainian Competition:

Delphine Jeanneret (Switzerland), Gina Dellabarca (New Zealand), Kavich Neang (Cambodia)

Grand Prix: THE CARPET 

The Jury wishes to award The Carpet by Natasha Kyselova as the winner for the national prize. Beautiful cinematography captures a teenage boy's coming-of-age moments of burgeoning love and friendships tested, set against the increasingly tense back-drop of escalating war. The contrast of his tender feelings and brutal reality is stark. The Carpet is a provocative film that dares to depict the current Ukrainian political and social condition through the telling of one boy's story.

Special mention: METAWORK

The Jury also wishes to give Metawork by Vasyl Lyah a special mention for the director's artistic vision and highly promising independent voice. Metawork is a powerful document of contemporary Ukraine and youth struggle. The film tells of how a young man's simple daily act of using his creativity and care in tending his garden can transcend the mundane, becoming a political act of survival and resistance.

Audience award: SURROGATE

dir. Stas Santimov