06/12/2010

Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa, who was at Baltic Event with his new project In the Fog, walked away with the Grand Prix-Best Eurasian Film for his debut film My Joy [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF).

The prize for Best Director went to Chris Kraus for the German/Austrian/Estonian co-production The Poll Diaries [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Chris Kraus
film profile].

Finnish box office hit Princess (introduced at the 2009 Baltic Event as a work in progress) won Best Actress (Katja Küttner), while Swedish actor Mikael Persbrandt won in his category for his performance in the Danish film In a Better World [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

Silent Souls by Russian filmmaker Aleksei Fedorchenko won Best Cinematography (Mikhail Krichman) and a Special Mention from the FICC (International Federation of Film Clubs) Jury, while Mohamed Al Daradji’s Son of Babylon [+see also:
trailer
film profile] won a Special Jury Prize.

Three years after his triumph at PÖFF, where he won six awards for Autumn Ball [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Estonia’s most internationally acclaimed contemporary director, Veiko Õunpuu, scooped three awards this time for The Temptation of St Tony [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]: the Scottish Leader Estonian Film Award, the Silver Award for Best Baltic Film and the FIPRESCI Prize.

Õunpuu’s Lithuanian counterpart, Sharunas Bartas won Best Film from the Tridens Baltic Feature Film competition for Eastern Drift [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. The Tridens jury also awarded cinematographer Petri Mutasen Elokuvakonepaja (The Snow Queen) and gave a Special Mention to the Estonian/Ukrainian documentary Pit Nr8.

At the parallel Baltic Event industry gathering, Necromancer by Hungary’s Arpad Bogdan was voted Best Project and Russia’s Under Electric Clouds (Metrafilms) was voted Best Pitch by Screen International. Other young producers were chosen to participate for free at the upcoming Cannes Marché du Film Producers Network: Ewa Puszczynska (Opus Film) from Poland who brought to Baltic Event the children’s project Jingo, and Natalia Drozd (CTB Film Company) from Russia who introduced two projects, Last November by Benjamin Quabeck, co-produced with Germany, and Volontaire by Sergey Selyanov.