Editor

At the Awards Ceremony held at the Cinémathèque Luxembourg on Friday 23 October the international jury of the 8^th edition of CinEast (Central and Eastern European Film Festival Luxembourg, 8-25 October 2015, www.cineast.lu) awarded the Grand Prix to the film Body by the Polish director Małgorzata Szumowska and the Special Jury Prize to the film Babai by the Kosovan director Visar Morina. The Critics’ Prize, awarded for the first time by a separate three-member press jury, went to the film Son of Saul by the Hungarian director László Nemes. The Bulgarian film Losers by Ivaylo Hristov received the best votes from the audience and picks up the Audience Award. The international jury was composed of Andrzej Zulawski (president, not present at the ceremony due to illness), Alexandra Hoesdorff (producer), Yann Tonnar (director), Vicky Krieps (actor) and Ina Ivanceanu (director). The photos from the ceremony are available here and stills from the awarded films here.

Ina Ivanceanu commented the jury’s verdict as follows: “For the coherence of the concept, for the complexity of its characters and the empathy towards human frailty, for the proximity towards the surreal without losing its ground in reality, for a subtle humour in the darkest hour, the Jury decides to award the Grand Prix of the CinEast 2015 festival to the film Body by the Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska.”

As regards the Special Jury Prize, Vicky Krieps said: “A gruesome fairytale tale of a child who embarks on a contemporary odyssee in a search of his absent father. The depth of a boy takes us through a journey of hope, dispair and revenge. Shot in a documentary style, but with an impressive aesthetic research in camera and  lighting. For all these reasons the Jury decided to award the Special Jury Prize to the film Babai by Visar Morina.”

Raul Antonio Reis (member of the press jury) described the Critics’ Prize winner Son of Saul as follows: “The film's dark aesthetics, the unanimous subject and the talent displayed by the protagonist all shed light on a striking reality.(...) For a first feature film – but even if it wasn't his debut - László Nemes shows extraordinary directing skills. His work is original and manages to drown the public in the Auschwitz hell while avoiding all stereotypes and testing our imagination. One last commendation for Géza Röhrig, who plays Saul, and his incredibly authentic performance.”

The 8^th CinEast film festival runs until Sunday 25 October.