Jury Award: MIGRANTS
France 2020, Animated film by Zoé Devise, Hugo Caby, Antoine Dupriez, Aubin Kubiak, and Lucas Lermytte
The animated film MIGRANTS links two of the most important problem areas of our time that are closely related: the climate catastrophe and global migration. The supposedly childlike approach of telling the story through animated stuffed animals dissolves into harsh reality via the final image of the film.
The jury especially appreciates the skilled animation. However, we find the film music too kitschy. Even if the overall dramaturgy convinces us, the development of the characters could have been more differentiated. After a long controversial discussion, we nevertheless decided with a light heart in favour of MIGRANTS.
Audience Award: MY MIRROR
MY MIRROR | IN 2020 | Experimental film by Jayakrishnan Subramanian and Franziska Schönenberger
Lonely newlywed Mythili receives the longed-for attention from another user with her singing videos in an interactive app, which her husband Ramesh, who works abroad, can't give her. When he discovers this double life and confronts her, devastated Mythili shoots a video of her own suicide. Based on true events.
» Greetings from the directors on YouTube (in German)
Jury Award and Audience Award: LIEBE, PFLICHT & HOFFNUNG
Germany 2020, Fiction, by Maximilian Conway.
With great clarity, sensitivity, but also quiet humour, the winning film portrays the fate of an outsider who stands for all those who are not seen, who have to fight for recognition and a place in society, and in the process run up against closed doors again and again. For this, the film finds its own, unused images and is carried by an impressive leading actress who, together with her director, never even comes close to embarrassing her character.
An Honourable Mention goes to FABIU by Stefan Langthaler.
A sensual, yet suspensefully staged film about the brief encounter of two men who could hardly be more different, which is also able to empathise with the psychology of its characters without any kitsch thanks to its great visual language – glances, details, even silences – and is thus a great testament to the talent of its director.
TOP DOWN MEMORY by Daniel Theiler wins the Innovation Award and the Prize of the Students' Jury
From Liebknecht to Mussolini to Justin Bieber – witty, ingenious and cinematic adventurous, the winning film conveys a brief cultural history of the balcony as an instrument of power and communication. Not only is the collective memory pronged – people will also look at a balcony very differently in the future.
An Honourable Mention related to the Innovation Award 2021 goes to HAVE A NICE DOG! by Jalal Maghout.
A stroke of genius with an idiosyncratic, utterly expressive animation style that manages to capture the nightmare of a psyche in an oppressive world between war and emigration.
Jury Award: ÉCOUTE-MOI (LISTEN TO ME)
France 2020, fiction, by François Hoskovec
ÉCOUTE-MOI manages to touch the viewer in a magical way. The film tells the story of a deaf young man who, despite his mute world, falls under the spell of music and is drawn to a woman by the universal power of vibration.
The unusual sound, the sensitive camera, and the performance make the film a very special work. Director François Hoskovec allows us to immerse ourselves for a short time in the silent world of being deaf.
Overall, ÉCOUTE-MOI impresses with its coherent realisation and great sensitivity.
Audience Award: DAS PROBESPIEL
Austria 2019, fiction, by Guy Lichtenstein
Sarah, a young and talented cellist, plays with a string quartet at private events to earn a living. At one such wedding she meets her ex-boyfriend again. He is the groom. Sarah remembers their shared past and uncovers for the viewer what remains invisible to the groom. A film about decisions in career and private life, told in flashbacks.
Best Dokumentary Award: MEISJESJONGENSMIX (GIRLSBOYSMIX)
Netherlands 2020, Dokumentary by Lara Aerts
Why is it so important to be a boy or a girl? Wen Long explains quite naturally that she was born intersex. S(h)e likes boys’ and girls’ toys and clothes. The problem is that others don’t know what to think of this. Wen Long isn’t interested in making a choice, but mainly just wants to be herself. Nevertheless she wonders: where do I belong?
