Carla Simón receives award worth € 10,000 for her summer coming-of-age drama Estiu 1993 / Summer 1993
choices Audience Award goes to the documentary A Woman Captured by Bernadett Tuza-Ritter
The 35th International Women's Film Festival Dortmund | Cologne came to an end on Sunday evening with a festive prize-giving ceremony after six very successful days. In the outdoor performance area of Schauspiel Köln / Britney, four film awards worth a total of € 16,000 were presented to the winners.
The departure of Silke Johanna Räbiger - director of the Women's Film Festival for over 25 years - added an emotional note to the finale of a festival that has repeatedly captivated Cologne audiences with the rich diversity of its programme.
Spanish director Carla Simón impressed the international jury with her easygoing, summery yet deeply poignant debut ESTIU 1993 (SUMMER 1993), which will be shown at German cinemas with the title FRIDAS SOMMER in July (distributed by Grandfilm). The jury panel was made up of directors Muriel Coulin (France) and Ildikó Enyedi (Hungary) and actress Ursula Strauss (Austria). They explained their decision as follows:
"The first prize for a director's debut goes to a film that takes us through the precarious phases of a child's grieving. The dialogue of love in all its cruelty, rejection and reconciliation is so truthful and tender and is about a subject rarely seen in the cinema."
ESTIU 1993 is about the summer of 1993. Six-year-old Frida is sent to live with her uncle in the countryside after the death of her mother. Although his family welcomes her with love and kindness, Frida takes a long time to adapt to her new home. Moments of innocent gaiety alternate with contemplative detachment in this "cheerful drama", which sensitively examines the consequences of an unpredictable illness.
The jury also honoured the Latin American co-production MEDEA by Alexandra Latishev Salazar with a special mention. The story of a young woman who – completely disconnected from her environment – consistently denies her pregnancy, impressed the members of the jury who praised the film "for its brave minimalism, showing the chilling loneliness of a young woman in an extreme personal situation and giving the protagonist the opportunity for an amazingly powerful performance."
The winners of the National Competition for Young Womnen Cinematographers were already recognised prior to the award ceremony:
Paola Calvo received the prize in the Documentary Film category for VIOLENTLY HAPPY, which she also directed. Marie Zahi received the award in the Feature Film category for HOW I LOST MYSELF, by Sarah Weber. The € 2,500 prizes were awarded by a jury made up this year of the cinematographers Sophie Maintigneux, Eva Testor and Katharina Diessner.
After the final ballot papers were counted, the Audience Award, worth € 1,000 and sponsored by the magazine choices, went to the Hungarian-German documentary A WOMAN CAPTURED by Bernadett Tuza Ritter. Sponsored by the Film und Medienstiftung NRW, the film tells the story of a European woman who is held captive by a family as a house slave for ten years. The film was co-produced by the Cologne-based company Corsofilm. The prize was presented to producer Martin Roelly on the evening of the award ceremony by choices Head of Projects Rüdiger Schmidt-Sodingen.
Reactions to the Festival were exceptionally positive both among audiences and in the media with sold-out cinemas and lively discussions. After the screening of the documentary MONIKA HAUSER – A PORTRAIT, for example, medica mondiale founder Monika Hauser impressed viewers in a full house with her in-depth analyses of issues relating to sexualised violence against women. Berlin hip hopper sookee received rapturous applause for her short performance after the premiere of the documentary SOOKEE – VON SEEPFERDCHEN UND SCHRÄNKEN. This year's focus ABOUT GERMANY prompted some heated debates, and the many musical performances and special acts in the Panorama section turned the Festival centre in the Altes Pfandhaus, in particular, into a lively centre for exchange and discussions.
The next Festival will take place in April 2019 in Dortmund.
For more information, photos or film material, please contact: Stefanie Görtz, Maxi Braun, 0231-5025480, 0170-2037198, presse@frauenfilmfestival.eu
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