31st Fribourg International Film Festival are celebrating the rise of South Asian cinema close with Awards

All the juries at the 31st Fribourg International Film Festival are celebrating the rise of South Asian cinema. Three films, from Singapore, Bhutan and Nepal, shared most of the prizes at the closing ceremony International Competition: Feature Films

The second feature from a 33 year-old filmmaker, Apprentice, by Singaporean Boo Junfeng, won the FIFF Grand Prix, a prize worth CHF 30,000.- courtesy of the State and the City of Fribourg. This portrayal of an apprentice executioner on Singapore’s death row also won the Critics’ Choice Award.

Honeygiver Among the Dogs by Dechen Roder, the first feature film by a Bhutanese woman, went home with the Special Jury Award of CHF 10,000. This poetic thriller, a hypnotic investigation in the Bhutanese mountains, won the Youth Jury Award COMUNDO (CHF 5,000.-) and obtained a Special Mention from the International Federation of Film Societies.

Nepal was the focus for the New Territory section and many of the screenings were sold out. The section was a worldwide first for the country and a Nepalese film won four prizes: White Sun by Deepak Rauniyar was celebrated with a Special Mention from the International Jury, the Don Quijote Award from the International Federation of Film Societies (IFFS), the Ecumenical Jury Award (CHF 5,000.-) and the Public Prize, worth of CHF 5,000.- courtesy of the Banque Cantonale de Fribourg.


International Competition: Short Films
This year, the competition juries chose a Lebanese filmmaker, Raed Rafei, winner of the Best International Short Film Award (sponsored by Groupe E) with Salam, who was also awarded a Special Mention by the CH Cinema Network Jury, composed of film students from major Swiss audiovisual schools. This jury gave its main prize to a Senegalese director, Mamadou Dia, for his film Samedi Cinéma.



Other AwardThe highly original Foreign Visa Prize, which is a first for this year’s festival, offers major Swiss film schools, such as the HEAD (Geneva), the ECAL (Lausanne), the ZHdK (Zurich) and the HSLU (Lucerne) to submit their students’ best films for consideration by the special guests in the New Territory section. The prize has had its first winners: the Nepalese festival guests were won over by the offerings from the German-language schools, and a Special Mention was awarded to Wo der Euphrat in die Sava mündet, by Andreas Muggli (HSLU Lucerne), while Millimeterle, by Pascal Reinmann (ZHdK Zurich), won the Foreign Visa Prize, worth CHF 1,000.-.



Sunday, 09.04 | Awarded Films | Rex 1
13:30 | Best international Short Film Award and Grand Prix
16:00 | Audience Award | Free admission 


Out in Movie Theater
Double Sentence, Léa Pool, Swiss from 5th April
The Eagle Huntress, Otto Bell, USA, UK, Mongolia: 12th April
White Sun, Deepak Rauniyar, Nepal: 13th April
The Birth of a Nation, Nate Parker, USA: 25th April  

Highlights of #fiff17
All the highlights of #fiff17 are now on www.fiff.ch.

The 32nd edition of the Fribourg International Films Festival will take place from 16 – 24 March 2018, we look forward to seeing you!