Babai and Baden Baden share the honours at Linz
- Rio Corgo has taken home the Best Documentary Award at the Crossing Europe Festival
The 13th edition of Crossing Europe, a festival dedicated to Austrian and European filmmakers who have directed one to two feature films, wrapped on Sunday 24 April with a ceremony awarding ten films across eight categories.
The international jury, made up of Bulgarian distributor Anna Fodor, Thessaloniki Film Festival programmer Dimitris Kerkinos and the Hamburg Film Festival’s Kathrin Kohlstedde, could not decide between Visar Morina’s Babai [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Visar Morina
film profile] (Germany, Macedonia, Kosovo, France), “a film about a complex relationship between a father and his son that doesn’t succumb to sentimentality”, and Rachel Lang’s Baden Baden [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (France, Belgium), “a film bordering on personal tragedy and comedy”, as the jury put it; as a result, they instead opted to award both the title of Best Fiction Film, with both winners sharing the €10,000 prize.
The Audience Award was given to a Bulgarian feature debut, which was unveiled at San Sebastián: Svetla Tsotsorkova’s Thirst [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Svetla Tsotsorkova
film profile], which received a cash prize of €1,000, a weekend for two sponsored by Park Inn by Radisson Linz and a screening that will take place in June at the Moviemento movie theatre in Linz.
The Franco-Swiss co-production Rio Corgo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Maya Kosa and Sérgio da Costa, described by the director as “the portrait of a vagabond focusing on the life of Silva in a village in the North of Portugal”, was proclaimed Best Documentary (€5,000). The jury, made up of Katharina Pethk, Mads B Mikkelsen and Cíntia Gil, gave a Special Mention to the Belgian documentary Birobidjan – The Nest Has Fallen into the Flames by Guy-Marc Hinant, a film that is “precious and enriching, both today and in the future”.
A large part of the festival was dedicated to local artists. In this section, jury members Jola Wieczorek, Katja Jäger and Robert Hinterleitner awarded Siniša Vidović first place (€5,000) for his film Korida, which looks at the Bosnian bullfighting tradition. Second place (€2,000 in post-production services) was awarded to Selma Doborac for These Shocking Days, “a film that ponders if and how war can be portrayed in a film”, while the Social Awareness Award was given to Djordje Čenić for the autobiographical documentary Unten.
The Music Video Audience Award was handed to Leni Gruber for Wösside (Wös Rap Rec), and the Local Artist Atelierpreis for best local shoot was given to Maria Czernohorszky for her short Last Supper IV.
The date for the next edition of Crossing Europe has already been set, with the next meeting taking place in Linz from 25-30 April 2017.
Here is the complete list of the winners:
International Competition
Best Fiction Film
Babai [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Visar Morina
film profile] – Visar Morina
Baden Baden [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Rachel Lang
Best Fiction Film – Audience Award
Thirst [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Svetla Tsotsorkova
film profile] – Svetla Tsotsorkova
Best Documentary
Rio Corgo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Maya Kosa, Sérgio da Costa
Special Mention
Birobidjan – The Nest Has Fallen into the Flames - Guy-Marc Hinant
Local Artist Competition
Best Film
Korida - Siniša Vidović
Those Shocking Shaking Days [+see also:
trailer
film profile] - Selma Doborac
Social Awareness Award
Unten - Djordje Čenić, Hermann Peseckas
Music Video Audience Award
Wösside (Wös Rap Rec) – Leni Gruber
Local Artist Atelierpreis
Last Supper IV - Maria Czernohorszky
(Translated from French)
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