Festivals 22nd Festival of Slovenian Film, Portorož: 17-22 September, 2019
AWARDS
1. Vesna Award for Best Feature Film Stories from the Chestnut Woods Production: Nosorogi Co-production: Transmedia Production, Deutsche Film- Und Fernsehakademie Berlin, RTV Slovenija Directed by: Gregor Božič
Commentary: An astonishing achievement with an outstanding visual aspect and an all-roundness that, with its many qualities, goes far beyond the usual scope of national cinema. This perfected masterpiece employs all elements of the film language in a thoughtful and subtle way, allowing for a highly emotive and aesthetic experience. The film clearly harbingers a significant turning point for Slovenian cinema.
2. Vesna Award for Best Director Gregor Božič / Stories from the Chestnut Woods Production: Nosorogi Co-production: Transmedia Production, Deutsche Film- Und Fernsehakademie Berlin, RTV Slovenija Directed by: Gregor Božič
Commentary: Few films are as precise, as well-thought-out, go as deep, and display such harmony of all its creative elements as Stories from the Chestnut Woods, the feature debut by Gregor Božič. With his unique poetics and original solutions, Božič exhibits expressive means of extraordinary maturity as an auteur as well as a craftsman, to take the audience on a magic journey into the world of chestnut woods.
3.Vesna Award for Best Screenplay Katja Colja and Angelo Carbone / Rosa
Commentary: Through a very delicate story, screenwriters Katja Colja and Angelo Carbone lay bare the full depth of losing a child and facing the loss. In a sensitive, subtle way, a range of details and everyday situations come together in a comprehensive mosaic of estranged relations, whose dynamics gradually, ever so slightly leads to a powerful emotive catharsis.
4. Vesna Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Liza Marijina / Half-Sister
Commentary: Liza Marijina infuses the role of the rebellious Neža with layers and depth, which subtly suggest suppressed emotions hiding behind the self-deprecating facade of roughness and impudence. With precise, well-measured means, Marijina is compelling in showing her heroine’s gradual emotional opening up.
5. Vesna Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Massimo De Francovich / Stories from the Chestnut Woods
Commentary: In his role as Mario, the stingy carpenter, Massimo De Francovich manages in a single masterly achievement to conjure up the entire array of emotions and the full breadth of the inner world behind a face hardened by the weight of life’s trials and tribulations. Through the dignity, warmth and generosity of his character, De Francovich reveals the bitter fate of a community.
6. Vesna Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Jana Zupančič / Corporation
Commentary: Jana Zupančič’s acting reveals the inner fears and dilemmas of a seemingly strong woman. With minimalist, yet precisely delivered expressive means, she shapes her role with an air of anxiety and tension, to construct the character of Inspector Kaja, a woman desperate to escape the fate of a dead-end provincial life.
7. Vesna Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Milivoj Roš / Oroslan
Commentary: In a matter of minutes, the acting bravura from Milivoj Roš Miki leaves a mark so strong that one can no longer imagine this film without him. With incredible ease, Roš switches between showy rhetoric and intimate, poignant account, demonstrating once again the power and inspiration of the actor’s charisma.
8. Vesna Award for Best Photography Ferran Paredes Rubio / Stories from the Chestnut Woods Production: Nosorogi Co-production: Transmedia Production, Deutsche Film- Und Fernsehakademie Berlin, RTV Slovenija Directed by: Gregor Božič
Commentary: With exquisite mastery of the interplay of light and shadows, with the authority and in the manner of the greatest masters of classical painting, the director of photography Ferran Paredes Rubio puts the cherry on top of a visual masterpiece he helps create in a close symbiosis with the director’s camera angles and the aforementioned elements of production design, costume design and make-up.
9. Vesna Award for Best Original Music Hekla Magnúsdóttir / Stories from the Chestnut Woods Production: Nosorogi Co-production: Transmedia Production, Deutsche Film- Und Fernsehakademie Berlin, RTV Slovenija Directed by: Gregor Božič
Commentary: Containing forgotten tunes in harmony with pop songs, the original music of Hekla Magnúsdóttir elegantly builds an intuitive narration. This creates an autonomous narrative layer that delicately enhances acting with its evocative power, taking the emotive experience of the audience to an entirely new level.
10. Vesna Award for Best Editing Gregor Božič, Benjamin Mirguet, Beppe Leonetti / Stories from the Chestnut Woods Production: Nosorogi Co-production: Transmedia Production, Deutsche Film- Und Fernsehakademie Berlin, RTV Slovenija Directed by: Gregor Božič
Commentary: In a creative editing process, Gregor Božič managed together with Beppe Leonetti and Benjamin Mirguet to find a balance between all elements of the film language, weaving them together into a magic cinematic fairy-tale through leaps in time, seamless transitions between reality and the surreal, and the merging of memories and dreams.
11. Vesna Award for Best Production Design Giovanna Cirianni / Stories from the Chestnut Woods Production: Nosorogi Co-production: Transmedia Production, Deutsche Film- Und Fernsehakademie Berlin, RTV Slovenija Directed by: Gregor Božič
Commentary: Paying careful attention to the smallest detail while exhibiting a command of the bigger picture in terms of locations, Giovanna Cirianni creates a magical yet highly compelling space that goes beyond being a mere set, becoming an active protagonist.
12. Vesna Award for Best Costume Design Katharina Jockwer, Mateja Fajt / Stories from the Chestnut Woods Production: Nosorogi Co-production: Transmedia Production, Deutsche Film- Und Fernsehakademie Berlin, RTV Slovenija Directed by: Gregor Božič
Commentary: With a carefully planned concept and concern for the smallest detail, based on the one hand on ethnology and on the other hand on the meticulously charted social backgrounds, Katharina Jockwer and Mateja Fajt have designed costumes that will remain eternal.
13. Vesna Award for Best Make-up Barbara Morosetti / Stories from the Chestnut Woods Production: Nosorogi Co-production: Transmedia Production, Deutsche Film- Und Fernsehakademie Berlin, RTV Slovenija Directed by: Gregor Božič
Commentary: With her subtle make-up, Barbara Morosetti meticulously, consistently supports actors in shaping their roles throughout the narrative, making a substantial contribution to the memorable images resurrected from the past.
14. Vesna Award for Best Sound Jan Vysocky, Julij Zornik / Stories from the Chestnut Woods Production: Nosorogi Co-production: Transmedia Production, Deutsche Film- Und Fernsehakademie Berlin, RTV Slovenija Directed by: Gregor Božič
Commentary: In harmony with original music, the sound emerges as one of the central narrative elements. The multi-faceted and technical perfection of sound is a result of the efforts of a creative team with a clear original concept and a unique approach to sound in film.
15. Vesna Award for Best Documentary Daughter of Camorra Production: Studio Maj Directed by: Siniša Gačić
Commentary: This is an observational documentary about an infamous Camorra killer rediscovering the daily life in a south Italian town after spending 24 years in jail. Its discerning screenplay, bold camera, and great direction take us on a gripping cinematic journey with the protagonist and her partner, who has waited 24 years for her to come home. What is left of their love, and who is Christina Pinto? In a credible and trusting way, the authors manage to pierce the most intimate layers of the human soul and reveal the secret of Christina’s reasons to kill. Superb editing, music and execution. A poignant film.
16. Vesna Award for Best Short Film Paradise Production: MONOO Co-production: Wolfgang I Dolly, Katja Šoltes – Arhitektka in scenografinja Directed by: Mitja Ličen, Sonja Prosenc
Commentary: A charming, humorous love twist full of situational turns. In the Mediterranean atmosphere of Paradise, its fine details speak of the relationship of a young couple on vacation with all the small inconveniences that the audience can relate to, and laugh about, recognising their own selves. The lightness and brilliance of the film can be seen in all its layers – the screenplay, photography, direction, acting. A superb performance from the entire cast and crew widens our “peripheral vision”.
17. Vesna Award for Best Minority Co-production God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya Production: Sisters And Brother Mitevski (MK) Co-production: Vertigo (SI), Entre Chien Et Loup (BE), Spiritus Movens (HR), Deuxième Ligne Films (FR), Ez Films (FR) Directed by: Teona Strugar Mitevska
Commentary: A bold and passionate film with the brilliant Zorica Nuševa as Petrunya raises the issue of the role of women in Macedonian society and traditional environments. The story traces the transformation of Petrunya into a vocal advocate of women’s rights after her spontaneous act disrupts the traditions of the Church and society. A masterly piece by Teona Strugar Mitevska, proving that cinema can still inspire change in society, and change the world.
18. Vesna Award for Best Animated Film Liliana Production: ZVVIKS Directed by: Milanka Fabjančič Commentary: Animator and author Milanka Fabjančič draws and dreams, making full use of the form of animated film. Through animated metamorphoses, she takes us into the fictional world of Liliana and her daily life in the time of Metropolis, conveyor belts, people as numbers. Characters and shapes mutate freely from one form to another, creating an air of the surreal, imaginary. In the process, Fabjančič makes the most of the freedom of expression that only animation can provide. Liliana defies with a smile on her face, her heart full of love. A waggish animated film with excellent music by Magnifico. The light carried by Liliana in her heart spreads among the audience.
19. Vesna Award for Best Student Film Alzheimer Café Production: UL AGRFT Directed by: Martin Draksler
Commentary: Maturity, empathy, and a clear original vision by Martin Draksler make the key qualities of this documentary, whose narration weaves into an honest, comprehensive whole.
20. Vesna for Best Original / Experimental AV Work Man with Shadow Production: Zavod ZANK Co-production: Nuframe, Zvokarna, Vpk Pro, Mb Grip, Big Herat Studio Directed by: Ema Kugler Commentary: It is with precise artfulness of the film language and usage of new technologies that artist, screenwriter and director Ema Kugler tells in an authentic manner the story of “us who exist to dig bones”, lost like foetuses in the universe seeking the authenticity of “something”. She also presents us with a solution. An expressive audio-visual masterpiece with exceptional auteur, acting and technological contributions. A philosophical and highly aesthetical film.
21. Vesna Award for Special Achievements Pumpkin on the Hot Roof of the World Production: Strup Co-production: Pigeon Point, RTV Slovenija Directed by: Nejc Saje, Jeffrey Young
Commentary: Pumpkin on the Hot Roof of the World is much more than just a portrait of the Slovenian poetry giant, Tomaž Šalamun. This is an exceptional, valuable document for the Slovenian culture, the value of which will only grow with every passing day.
22. Vesna Award for Special Achievements For director and screenplay: Martin Turk / Good Day's Work Production: TRT (TR), Obala Art Centar (BiH) Co-production: Bela Film d.o.o. (SI), Teferruat Film (TR) Directed by: Martin Turk
Commentary: With a hint of Italian neorealism, the film paints the everyday life of a young Bosnian family in distress, and of a father who seeks work but only finds it as he ends up in jail. In our corrupt world, this universal story of a socially vulnerable family, the father unemployed and too honest to be able to accede to corruption even at the cost of survival, is very much topical around the globe. With his sensitive and precise direction, and leading an excellent international cast and crew, the director has created a compassionate film of tender emotions and high moral standing.
23. Vesna Audience Award Stories from the Chestnut Woods Production: Nosorogi Co-production: Transmedia Production, Deutsche Film- Und Fernsehakademie Berlin, RTV Slovenija Directed by: Gregor Božič
OTHER AWARDS Slovenian Art Cinema Association Award (Jury members: Petra Gajžler, Barbara Kelbl, Matej Patljak) God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya Production: Sisters And Brother Mitevski (MK) Co-production: Vertigo (SI), Entre Chien Et Loup (BE), Spiritus Movens (HR), Deuxième Ligne Films (FR), Ez Films (FR) Directed by: Teona Strugar Mitevska
Commentary: The female protagonist is driven by a strong inward sense of justice into a silent, but persistent revolt against the seemingly sacred rules and inflexible power structures. Her fight is currently a very pressing issue. An excellent performance by the female lead and a strong story seasoned by satirical humour are supported by the film's iconic, yet also ironic visual appearance.
IRIDIUM award of postproduction services amounting to EUR 5,000 to be presented to an author of a directorial debut. Stories from the Chestnut Woods Award presented by the educational programme Sharpening the Gaze, run by KINO! Society for Expanding Film Culture, to the best student film in the competition programme: Soma Production: Univerza v Novi Gorici, Akademija umetnosti Directed by: Sandra Jovanovska
Commentary: The dizzying Soma by Sandra Jovanovska is an exploration into the capabilities and possibilities of the (animated) film that discusses the theme of addiction in an original way using readymades. Despite the complexity of the topic, there is ample space for interpretation.
Special mention by the educational programme Sharpening the Gaze: Alzheimer Cafe Production: UL AGRFT Directed by: Martin Draksler
Commentary: A moving reflection on life and transience, Alzheimer Cafe by Martin Draksler focuses respectfully and playfully on the intimacy in the everyday life of a couple in an old people's home. Kosobrin Award Kosobrin Award for priceless film professionals, presented by the Directors Guild of Slovenia, goes to Matija Kozamernik Jojo, production manager.
http://www.fsf.si/assets/22ndFSF_Awards.pdf
