With happy award winners and beautiful weather, the 18th edition of our festival came to a festive end yesterday evening in the open air at Karmelitermarkt. Four main prizes went to female directors—a pleasing sign of the radiance of young female filmmaking, which accounted for exactly half of the competitions. The German animation The Natural Death of a Mouse by Katharina Huber won two awards and was entered in the race for the Oscars, as was the Austrian co-production Cause of Death by South African director Jyoti Mistry and the Serbian coming-of-age film Armadila by Gorana Jovanović. On top of that, Greek filmmaker Thelyia Petraki was chosen as a candidate for the European Film Awards for her 80s drama BELLA. Here now the awards in detail:
FIDO FICTION & DOCUMENTARY
The top prize in the international competition Fiction & Documentary went to Armadila by Gorana Jovanović, which “talks with all the courage in the world about feelings that have yearned for expression since humans have started telling stories” and was therefore described by the jury as a “stroke of luck”. The second prize in FIDO—the Jury Prize—went to Thelyia Petraki for BELLA, “an account of idealism and passion, in both private and public life, with great fragility but also with immense power,” A Special Mention in FIDO went to Dutchman Sebastian Mulder for NAYA. Click here for the jury statements!
AA ANIMATION AVANTGARDE
n the international competition Animation Avantgarde, the jury awarded the main prize to the German animation The Natural Death of a Mouse by Katharina Huber. The “brilliant pastiche of unique animation style, found footage, live action and period religious artwork” thus also enters the race for the Oscars. The AA Jury Prize went to the film Inside by Frenchman Yann Chapotel, and a Special Mention went to Frozen Jumper by Tina Frank. Click here for the jury statements! Click here for the jury statements!
ÖW AUSTRIAN COMPETITION
The best film of the Austrian Competition was awarded to the Austrian co-production Cause of Death by South African director Jyoti Mistry. The documentary about structural violence against women was praised as an “angry poem” and “a work that uncompromisingly sings for life.” The Jury Prize in the Austrian Competition was awarded to Michael Heindl’s Spring Will Not Be Televised while Karin Ferrari’s film m h y t n i x received a Special Mention. Click here for the jury statements!
MUVI AUSTRIAN MUSIC VIDEO AWARD
The Austrian Music Video Award entered its ninth edition during the festival and brought a repeating winner: the band Oehl was already able to celebrate its director Rupert Höller for the video to Über Nacht last year; this year Lorenz Uhl was awarded the prize by the jury for his video BRUMM BRUMM for YUKNO x Oehl feat. Autodrom. A special mention went to the music video Lost Islands – Tony Renaissance by Lena Kuzmich. Click here for the jury statements!
BEST FEMALE DIRECTOR & YOUTH JURY
Katharina Huber can also celebrate a second award for her film The Natural Death of a Mouse. The Elfi Dassanowsky Foundation praised the director’s work as a “brilliant pastiche of unique animation style, found footage, live action and period religious artwork.” The Youth Jury Award, on the other hand, goes to the film Life on the Horn by Mo Harawe; the film Civilization by Christoph Schwarz received a Special Mention from the Youth Jury. Click here for the jury statements!
AUDIENCE AWARDS
In addition to the jury, also the audience awarded prizes—by online voting this year! Already on Saturday, the Prix très chic pour le film le plus extraordinaire went to the Canadian animation Fruit by Ivan Li. In the competition, the audience chose the French animation Empty Places by Geoffroy de Crécy. And Letters from a Window by Nigel Gavus and İlkin Beste Çırak received the ORF.at Audience Award for the best Austrian film under ten minutes. Click here for the jury statements!
