Best Film in the International Competition: IL SILENZIO by Ali Asgari and Farnoosh Samadi
With an overall audience of more than 21,000 the interfilm – 32nd International Short Film Festival Berlin came to a successful and celebratory close on Sunday 20 November at Heimathafen Neukölln. 600 films from 71 countries were shown in 9 competitions and 60 programs. In this year’s Foreign Focus section interfilm explored the diverse cinematic work of Italy and China.
Wild festival impressions you can find here
New audience records were also achieved at KUKI – 9th International Short Film Festival for Children and Youth Berlin, with over 6,500 attendees (4,700 at school screenings) as well as at interforum, with well-over 800 participants.
More than 600 accredited industry guests attended the festival this year, 300 of which were international and national filmmakers. Prizes totalling € 31,000 were conferred in nine competitions. The winners of the 4 competitions at KUKI shared in € 6500 of prize money.
Award winners in the International, German and Confrontations competitions
The € 6000 cash prize from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg for the Best Film in the International Competition (IC) was awarded to the Italian-French production IL SILENZIO by Ali Asgari and Farnoosh Samadi. The Jury explained their decision with this statement: “The Best Film prize goes to a film which grabs our attention with precise cinematic language. A quiet, stirring drama in which the absence of words plays a big role. It is a densely-packed coming of age story about loss of childhood innocence. Communication may lead to acceptance, but what if the truth is simply too much? That is the dilemma faced by the main protagonist, as she feels that she is too young for this responsibility. She would just like to keep her mother, and speaking would mean losing her.”
The IC Jury conferred the Best Live-Action award (€ 2000 from SAE Institute Berlin) to French director Marie Vernalde for her film PAS DE CADEAU (NO GIFT).
The award for Best Animation (€ 1000 from Spindler & Klatt) went to CIPKA (PUSSY) by Renata Gasiorowska from Poland.
In the German Competition the jury gave the 1st prize to SIMPLY THE WORST by Johannes Kürschner and Franz Müller: “Strong characters, consistently innovative narrative techniques and a trashy aesthetic inspired by the Saxony region make this road movie into a comedy with wit, humour and underlying socio-critical statements. We believe that these young filmmakers are well on their way to becoming known far beyond the borders of Saxony. That’s clear!”
The award for Best Film in the Confrontations Competition (€ 2000 from The Federal Agency for Civic Education) was given to the Canadian film MON DERNIER ÉTÉ by Claude Demers. The Jury statement reasons: “Not a moment is wasted in this flawlessly crafted film that keeps its focus exactly where it belongs from beginning to end, while treating a disturbing issue with great sensitivity and from an original perspective. Thanks to a brilliant script and superb performances by its young actors, we experience the characters in this film as real people, never as mere plot devices, and the film’s cinematography and sound design also helps bring to life the world inhabited by those characters. Although there were a number of outstanding films in the Confrontations Competition the jury was unanimous from the very start of our final deliberations in awarding the first prize to this film”.
Audience awards in the Documentary, Green Film and eject competitions
In the Documentary Competition the audience chose to give the Best Film award (€ 1000 from Jinzhen International Short Film Festival) to HOOFD VOL DROMEN (FULL OF DREAMS) by Marinka de Jongh (Netherlands, 2015). A further audience award was conferred in the Green Film Competition (€ 1500 from Heinrich Böll Stiftung) to the Norwegian entry, TUNNELEN (THE TUNNEL) by André Øvredal. Naturally the audience once again selected “The weirdest and most wonderful short film” at eject XIX (€ 1000 from Ampelmann): METUBE 2 - AUGUST SINGS CARMINA BURANA by Daniel Moshel (Austria, 2016).
interforum - Script Pitch winners
Within the framework of the interforum section, the screenplay competition Script Pitch took place for the fourth consecutive year. Winner of the Best Pitch is Klara Stoyanova from Bulgaria for her project DANS. The ESP JURY AWARD went to Rand Beiruty from Jordan for ENCOUNTERING SAMIR and Johanna Rottenmaier from Germany received the daazo Award for LIFESCORE.
The eight finalists from Jordan, Sweden, Lebanon, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria and Madagascar were selected from a total of 80 entries from 39 countries.
Click here for a complete list of this year’s interfilm competition winners
KUKI award winners
At the 9th KUKI International Short Film Festival for Children and Youth Berlin, awards were given in both KUKI and TeenScreen sections by juries comprised of children and teens respectively.
The KUKI 1st Prize (€ 1000 from zapf Umzüge) was given to the Swiss film OPERATION COMMANDO by Jan Czarlewski. The youth jury conferred their TeenScreen 1st Prize for Best Short Film (€ 1000 from Jinzhen International Short Film Festival) to MON DERNIER ÉTÉ by Claude Demers, who also scooped the major prize in interfilm’s Confrontations Competition.
Click here for a complete list of this year’s KUKI competition winners
Thanks and festival dates in 2017
During the festival our guests commuted to nine locations in four central districts. interfilm thanks our official partner Audi City Berlin for the safe and swift rides. And many thanks to all further partners and sponsors
The interfilm team is already looking forward to the next edition:
interfilm - 33rd International Short Film Festival Berlin from 14 – 19 November, 2017.
Filmstill Il Silenzio - Best Film in International Competition (trailer)
Filmstill Simply the Worst - Erster Preis im Deutschen Wettbewerb (trailer)
Chatelin Bruno 
