Awards for 2015
Golden Firebird Award
Short Film
WINNER
Listen: Hamy Ramezan,
Rungano Nyoni
The film manages with a great script and convincing acting to draw the spectator into the middle of seemingly unsolvable problems. The situation of helplessness, misunderstanding and cultural clashes is so intense that it angers, hurts and leaves us, as helpless as the protagonists.
IN-COMPETITION
Documentary
WINNER
I Am the People: Anna Roussillon
For showing a very important historical event from the perspective of people whose voices are normally not heard and not valued.
IN-COMPETITION
Young Cinema
WINNER
Sworn Virgin: Laura Bispuri
At once universal and specific, this is a beautifully performed film of discovery about sexual identity and about culture, for its characters and for its audience.
IN-COMPETITION
Firebird Award - Special Mention
Short Film
WINNER
Leidi: Simón Mesa Soto
A compelling story of a teenage mother. Her unsatisfied wish for communication and love, her state of uncertainty and helplessness are captured through masterful cinematography, executed by well-orchestrated mise-en-scene and captivating performance of cast.
Young Cinema
WINNER
Deep in the Heart: Yukun Xin
An engaging black comedy set in a rural Chinese village that illuminates the challenges of everyday life. It offers a microcosm in which everyone is implicated.
Short Film - Jury Prize
IN-COMPETITION
Fresh Wave Award (Short Film) - Grand Prize
IN-COMPETITION
FIPRESCI Prize
WINNER
K: Emyr ap Richard,
Darhad Erdenibulag
The jury was impressed by the originality of K's mise-en-scène and approach to filmmaking. A precious collaboration between a Mongolian director and a Welsh filmmaker, this adaptation of Franz Kafka's The Castle, shot with available light and with an insightful use of Mongolian music, expresses the absurdity of the human condition caught in a liminal space between dreams and wakefulness.
IN-COMPETITION
SIGNIS Award
WINNER
River Road: Ruijun Li
The film portrays the journey of two little brothers from a forgotten minority tribe in Northern China, seeking their homeland of water and meadow. Through the eyes of children, this film shows the increasing awareness of identity, the importance of brotherhood and relationship with family, love and reconciliation between human beings, animals and the nature.
IN-COMPETITION
SIGNIS Award - Special Mention
WINNER
Phoenix: Christian Petzold
The film show how the protagonist, a woman with a traumatic experience in the Nazi concentration camp, reborn from her own ashes by recovering her identity, personality, dignity and independence, even in the face of a painful truth.
Jury Prize
Short Film
WINNER
A Blue Room: Tomasz Siwinski
A single fatal moment extended in the life of the protagonist. This hand-drawn animation film transforms a simple four-walled room into a multitude of vehicles for memory travel using unexpected visual and audio aesthetics, assuredly expressing the depth of human trauma and personal experience.
Documentary
WINNER
A Young Patriot: Haibin Du
For its sincere and complex depiction of the changes over time in how a young person sees himself and his society.
Young Cinema
WINNER