23/10/2017 - The film by Joanna Kos-Krauze and her late husband Krzysztof Krauze has won out over seven other Central or Eastern European movies

Director Anne Fontaine (left) and the rest of the international jury present the Grand Prix (© Margo Skwara)

Presided over by director Anne Fontaine (Reinventing Marvin [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Agnus Dei [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lou de Laâge
film profile]), the international jury of the tenth CinÉast Film Festival, held from 5-22 October in Luxembourg City, awarded the Grand Prix to Birds Are Singing in Kigali [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joanna Kos-Krauze
film profile]. Directed by Joanna Kos-Krauze and her late husband Krzysztof Krauze, the film tells the story of a Polish ornithologist who saves a Tutsi girl from certain death in the 1990s. After a few years, they both revisit Africa on an emotional journey full of painful memories.

Krzysztof Krauze, who made two other films with his wife Joanna Kos-Krauze, passed away at the age of 61 during the production of Birds Are Singing in Kigali in 2014. Joanna finished the film in 2017 in time for a premiere at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, where it won the Best Actress Award for the leads Jowita Budnik and Eliane Umuhire. At CinÉast, the film scooped the Grand Prix in a competition that also included the titles 3/4 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ilian Metev
film profile] (Ilian Metev), Daybreak [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gentian Koçi
film profile] (Gentian Koçi), Directions [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stephan Komandarev
film profile] (Stephan Komandarev), Filthy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tereza Nvotová
film profile] (Tereza Nvotová), Miracle [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eglė Vertelytė
film profile] (Egle Vertelyte), November [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rea Lest
film profile] (Rainer Sarnet) and Soldiers: Story from Ferentari [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dawid Ogrodnik
interview: Ivana Mladenovic
film profile] (Ivana Mladenović), which won the Special Jury Prize. Besides Fontaine, the jury consisted of actor Adrian Titieni, producer Bady Minck, festival programme director Oliver Baumgarten and producer Philippe Carcassonne.

The press jury, consisting of Pablo Chimienti (Le Quotidien), Valerija Berdi (Radio 100.7) and Matthew Boas (Cineuropa.org), awarded Bulgarian director Stephan Komandarev with the Critics’ Prize for his fourth feature, Directions. The Audience Award went to Rajko Grlić’s comedy-drama The Constitution [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rajko Grlić
film profile]. The CinÉast audience also voted for their favourite shorts, crowning Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović’s Into the Blue, Irena Jukić Pranjić’s Gamer Girl and Zofia Kowalewska’s Close Ties in their respective categories of fiction, animation and documentary.

See the full list of winners below:

Grand Prix
Birds Are Singing in Kigali [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joanna Kos-Krauze
film profile] - Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze (Poland)

Special Jury Prize
Soldiers. Story From Ferentari [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dawid Ogrodnik
interview: Ivana Mladenovic
film profile] - Ivana Mladenović (Romania/Serbia/Belgium) 

Critics' Prize
Directions [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stephan Komandarev
film profile] - Stephan Komandarev (Bulgaria/Germany/Macedonia)

Audience Award
The Constitution [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rajko Grlić
film profile] - Rajko Grlić (Croatia/Czech Republic/Macedonia/Slovenia) 

Audience Awards - Short Films

Fiction
Into the Blue - Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović (Croatia)

Animation
Gamer Girl - Irena Jukić Pranjić (Croatia)

Documentary
Close Ties - Zofia Kowalewska (Poland)