Cinéfondation Award Winners

This is a reproduction of the awards news for the Cinéfondation section.

The Cinéfondation Prizes, awarded to the best films from film schools all over the world, were announced on Friday in the Buñuel amphitheatre by the official Cinefoundation and Short Films Jury and its President, director Hou Hsiao Hsien from Taiwan.

First prize went to Elad Keidan from the Sam Spiegel Film and TV School – Israel for his film Himmon (Hymn).

Second Prize to Claire Burger of Femis – France for Forbach.

Third Prize was awarded jointly to Park Jae-ok from the Korean Academy of Film Arts, South Korea, for Stop, and Juho Kuosmanen from the University of Art and Design – Finland, for Kestomerkitsijät (Road Signs).

The President and the members of the Jury, Olivier Assayas, Suzanne Bier, Marian Hands and Larry Kardish stressed the exceptional quality of this year’s selection and encouraged all the young directors present to continue to develop their art.

This year the work done by the Cinéfondation to discover and support young directors through its various missions (Selection, Residence, Workshops) is reflected in the presence of no fewer than 11 Cinéfondation films in the various official selections.

The career of Kornél Mundruczò is particularly noteworthy – prizewinner in the Cinéfondation Selection 2004, selected for Un Certain Regard in 2005 and in Competition this year with Delta which he wrote while in Residence with Cinéfondation.

Also worthy of mention is the success of Aïda Bejic, supported by 'L'Atelier' 2007 for Snow, which has just received one of the prizes awarded before the official Prizes.