10th Motovun Film Festival Award Winners

I just “discovered” this festival that run from July 28th to August 1st and since is better later than never here are the award winners from this fest that has the following description.

Hosted in the small medieval town of Motovun, in the Croatian Istria, and situated on a hill 277 meters above sea level, it was created in 1999 by a group of people closely related to filmmaking, with the idea of showing films that don't usually surface in the Croatian national distribution circuit.

PROPELER MOTOVUNA Award
SILENT LIGHT / STELLET LICHT, Carlos Reygadas, Mexico, France, Netherlands
Jury: Milena Zupančič, Pawel Pawlikowski, Pavle Levi
It was not easy to decide the winner of 10th Motovun Film Festival. The program was rich, with plenty of interesting works. The work of the jury was even harder due to the diversity of the films' genres and styles. All this made for a difficult decision.
The film we picked - the winner of Motovun 2008 - is an outstanding work in every way. Distinguished by an original visual and narrative style, it is a poetic, emotional film which, dealing with the subject of love, also speaks of the spiritual aspect of our lives. The Motovun Propeller for 2008 is awarded to Silent Light by Carlos Reygadas.

OD A DO A Award
REVANCHE, Götz Spielmann, Austria
Jury of siblings: Teona Mitevska, Labina Mitevska, Nenad Puhovski, Žarko Puhovski
Jury from A to A states that the films competing for the prize have shown an impressive thematic diversity and a pluralism of film expression which is becoming typical for the region. The prize is awarded to Revanche by Götz Spielmann, with particular appreciation of the convincing way in which it treats both the eastern and the western post-communist situtuation. The modern-day claustrophobia is presented through impressive performances of the cast, skillfull camerawork and a consistent directing approach.

MOTOVUN ONLINE Award
BETWEEN WALLS / INTRE ZIDURI, Ana Felicia Scutelnicu, Germany
Jury of 3 Stefans: Stefan Kitanov, Stefan Uhrik, Stefan Laudyn
Special mention: FAREWELL / RASTANAK, Irena Škorić, Hrvatska

FIPRESCI Award
BLIND LOVES / SLÉPE LÁSKY, Juraj Lehotský, Slovakia
Jury: Stefan Ivančić, Gabriele Barrera, Gábor Böszörményi
For its original and human approach to extraordinary everyday life of blind people searching for happiness.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGTHS AWARD
ESTRELLITA, Metod Pevec, Slovenia
Jury: Nataša Senjanović, Ferdi Haliti, Dušan Miljuš
Estrellita is a modern and universal story intertwining the destinies of members of a traumatized minority in the midst of geographically close, but culturally remote environment. This forms the basis for further exploration of relations between family members, between sexes, and between different opinions on social values, which adds to the film's depth and quality.This is also a story of prejudice which doesn't condemn those who hold it, but tries to understand their actions. Estrellita fullfills all the key criteria of the Amnesty International Human Rights Award.

NAGRADA PUBLIKE Award
BEHIND THE GLASS, Zrinko Ogresta, Croatia
The winner was decided by audience vote using Vip SMS text messages.

MOTOVUN MAVERICK AWARD: KEN RUSSELL
For extraordinary achievement in broadening the borders of acceptable and decent in film, for single-mindedness and originality, the love of play and unpredictability, for persistence and above all, a mastery of cinematic art.

NAGRADA 50 GODINA Award: MIA OREMOVIĆ

To check the fest site and all the films screened go here and if you feel like watching videos from the festival check here.