09/12/2008

The 10th Brussels Mediterranean Film Festival (November 28-December 5) closed on Friday. Nine features screened in competition, including six European co-productions.

The main sections and sidebars took audiences on a journey along the shores of the Mediterranean and gave them the chance to discover the richness of the different film industries. The prize list was dominated by Balkan films, as the jury honoured a Croatian and Bosnian title.

Winner of the Grand Prize at the latest Cannes Critics’ Week, Aida Begic’s Snow [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] continued its winning streak by scooping the Special Jury Prize.

Snow – a subtle and sensitive portrait of a Bosnia scarred by war – recounts the daily life of women and children who are isolated in a snow-blocked village. The film was co-produced by Bosnia’s Mamafilm, Germany’s Rohfilm and France’s Les Films de l’Après-Midi.

Germany also co-produced the winner of the festival’s Grand Prize: Armin [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Croatian director Ognjen Svilicic. Presented at the Berlin Forum in 2007, the film has since done the rounds of international festivals, including Karlovy Vary where it picked up the Grand Prize.

Svilicic – who presented his film in Brussels in April – spoke of the necessity to “stop feeling sorry for ourselves”, advocating a pan-Balkan and united vision of the region.

His film centres on a father and his son (Armin), who leave their small Bosnian village for Zagreb, where Armin intends to audition with a German film team for a role in a movie about the Balkan conflict. During this expedition, father and son learn to understand each other; they decide to put the scars and after-effects of the war behind them and look together to the future.

Armin was co-produced by Germany’s Busse & Halberschmidt, Croatia’s Maxima Film and Bosnia’s Refresh Production. The film was also backed by the German Federal Film Board, HRT (Croatian television) and the Croatian and Bosnian Culture Ministries.

(Translated from French)