Another edition of the Crossing Europe Film Festival came to an end with an awards ceremony held in the Ursulinensaal of the Upper Austrian Culture Quarter in Linz on Sunday 29 April. The 15^th-anniversary edition was peppered with numerous events, including talks, exhibitions, panels and master classes led, among others, by this year’s special guests – Romanian producer Ada Solomon (whose work was featured in the In Focus section) and Anglo-Italian director Edoardo Winspeare (who had a tribute dedicated to him, comprising his six feature films). A new Crossing Europe Youth Award was also introduced, powered by the festival itself.

The jury of the fiction competition (German director-producer-writer Stefan Butzmühlen, Czech director Václav Kadrnka and director of the Tromsø Film Festival Martha Otte) made the unusual decision of splitting the award among three films, picking Leonardo Mouramateus’ debut Antonio One Two Three [+lee también:
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entrevista: Leonardo Mouramateus
ficha de la película], a loose adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s short story White Nights, as the main winner. The main award came with a €5,000 prize. The jury read the following statement: “From a classic literary starting point, this film opens the door to a surprisingly well-structured, multi-layered world. It liberates both characters and audience from narrative convention, resulting in a joyful film experience.” Two Special Awards went to Italian filmmaking duo Silvia Luzi and Luca Bellino for their father-daughter drama with a strong documentary approach Crater [+lee también:
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entrevista: Silvia Luzi, Luca Bellino
ficha de la película] and Turkish director Emre Yeksan for his debut, The Gulf [+lee también:
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ficha de la película]. Each prize was worth €2,500.

Bernadett Tuza-Ritter’s documentary A Woman Captured [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], about a 53-year-old woman kept in the household of a rich matriarch as un unpaid, 24/7 family slave, was crowned Best Documentary, an award that came with €5,000. The jury (Czech screenwriter Zdeněk Blaha, French director Magali Rocaut, and Croatian producer and Liburnia Film Festival director Oliver Sertić) stated: “Today, 45 million people work as modern slaves, completely hidden from the sight of society. But what is even more disturbing is that there is no political will of the modern so-called democracies to do anything about this social issue. We admire how the author managed to gain the trust of her protagonist, who had lost trust in everyone else.”

Iram Haq’s second feature, about a first-generation Norwegian teenage girl’s hardships, What Will People Say [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], was the clear favourite of the festival audience, scooping the €1,000 prize money, powered by Crossing Europe.

The Local Artists Jury, consisting of Austrian director-producer Anatol Bogendorfer, co-manager of Vienna Shorts Agentur Marija Milovanovic and CEO of the FIFTITU% networking association for women in art and culture Oona Valarie Serbest, selected Bernhard Hetzenauer’s short documentary A God’s Shadow for the Crossing Europe Innovative Award, which came with €3,500. In the film, a member of the Native Mexican Wirrárika community tells a story about his cousin, a shaman’s son and a self-proclaimed god, who committed atrocious crimes in the 1980s. Best Local Artist was Leni Gruber, whose short Schneeman centres on a young woman’s quest for happiness. The gong came with €5,000 prize money. Another prize (a voucher worth €2,000 for post-production costs) went to Fiona Rukschio’s Common Places 2, in which 29 people speak about different forms of harassment that they have experienced in “everyday places”.

Here is the complete list of the Crossing Europe award winners:

Crossing Europe Award – Best Fiction Film
Main Award: Antonio One Two Three [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] – Leonardo Mouramateus (Portugal/Brazil)
Special Jury Award: Crater [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] – Silvia Luzi, Luca Bellino (Italy)
Special Jury Award: The Gulf [+lee también:
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entrevista: Emre Yeksan
ficha de la película] – Emre Yeksan, (Turkey/Germany/Greece) 

Crossing Europe Audience Award – Best Fiction Film 
What Will People Say [+lee también:
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entrevista: Iram Haq
ficha de la película] – Iram Haq (Norway/Germany/Sweden) 

Crossing Europe Social Awareness Award – Best Documentary Film
A Woman Captured [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] – Bernadett Tuza-Ritter (Hungary)

Crossing Europe Award – Local Artist 
Schneemann – Leni Gruber (Austria)
Common Places 2 - Fiona Rukschio (Austria) 

Crossing Europe Innovative Award – Local Artist
A God’s Shadow – Bernhard Hetzenauer (Austria/Germany/Mexico)

Creative Region Music Video – Audience Award
Soul Fever Blues – Parov Stelar featuring Muddy Waters

Crossing Europe Award – Youth Jury 
Cobain [+lee también:
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entrevista: Nanouk Leopold
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