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FESTIVALS Germany

The High Sun triumphs at Cottbus

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- Dalibor Matanić's festival hit wins Best Film, Best Actress and the FIPRESCI Prize, while Lili Horvát bags Best Director for The Wednesday Child

The High Sun triumphs at Cottbus
Tihana Lazović with her Best Actress Award

Dalibor Matanić's The High Sun [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dalibor Matanic
interview: Tihana Lazovic
film profile
]
, which was world-premiered in Cannes' Un Certain Regard, where it received the Jury Prize, has won the Main Prize for Best Film and €25,000 at the 25th Cottbus Festival of East European Cinema (3-8 November). The film also won the FIPRESCI Prize. In addition, the movie's star Tihana Lazović received the Award for Outstanding Actress and €5,000.

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A Special Mention went to Marcin Wrona's Demon [+see also:
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]
, which world-premiered at Toronto. The director was found dead on 18 September, one day after the film's Polish premiere at the Gdynia Film Festival. 

The Award for Outstanding Actor, worth €5,000, went to Karel Roden for his role in Olmo Omerzu's Family Film [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Olmo Omerzu
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]
. The movie world-premiered in San Sebastián's New Directors section.

Meanwhile, Hungarian director Lili Horvát received the Special Prize for Best Director and €7,500 for The Wednesday Child [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lili Horvát |
film profile
]
, the winner of Karlovy Vary's East of the West competition. Meanwhile, the Jury of SIGNIS and INTERFILM awarded the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury to Croatian director Branko Schmidt's Ungiven [+see also:
film review
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]

"The fact that with The High Sun and Ungiven there are two Croatian productions among the prize winners honours the fantastic work of the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, which has systematically bolstered the film industry for the last couple of years," said Bernd Buder, the festival's programme director.

The Audience Award, worth €3,000, went to Slovenian director Jan Cvitkovič's Šiška De Luxe [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
. The Cottbus Student Jury Award for Best Debut Film, also worth €3,000, was given to Visar Morina for Babai [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Visar Morina
film profile
]
. The title previously earned Morina the Best Director Award at Karlovy Vary.

The DIALOGUE Prize for Intercultural Communication, and another €3,000, went to Kazakh director Daniyar Salmat's film Sagintay's First Wife. The Karlovy Vary FEDEORA Award winner, Heavenly Nomadic by Kyrgyzstan’s Mirlan Abdykalykov, received the "From Cottbus to Cinema" distribution support prize to the tune of €10,000. The €4,000 Cottbus Discovery Award went to Nicolae Constantin Tănase's The World Is Mine [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
.

In the shorts competition, the Main Prize, worth €2,500, was handed to Russian director Aksinya Gog for Fedor's Journey Through Moscow at the Turn of the XXI Century, Poland's Miłosz Sakowski received the Special Prize, worth €1,000, for Grandma's Day, and Georgian filmmaker Tato Kotetishvili got a Special Mention for Ogasavara.

Lastly, in the U18 German-Polish Youth Film Competition, the Prize for Best Youth Film, worth €1,500, went to Theresa von Eltz's 4Kings [+see also:
trailer
interview: Jella Haase
interview: Theresa von Eltz
film profile
]
, while Julia Kowalski's Raging Rose [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
received a Special Mention. 

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