AwardsWatch

All award winners of the 35th Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg Shortfilm Festival Hamburg and the 21st Mo&Friese Hamburg Children’s ShortFilmFestival

On Sunday evening, after the festive award ceremony, the 35th Hamburg International Short Film Festival went to rest for another year. For the first time in the history of the festival, an award winner was able to claim the prize for a second time in a row. After last year’s “Flores”, Jorge Jácome won this year’s Hamburg Short Film Award in the International Competition with “Past Perfect”. We cordially congratulate Jorge Jácome. The five-person jury chose a film that “takes us on a hypnotic journey through our own’s personal imaginary. Past Perfect exceptionally looks back in time to carry out a shared experience of solitude in modern times.”

Nearly 80 events took place over the span of 7 days, with more than 300 films from over 40 countries at the festival centre and the six cinemas. The festival was made possible by nearly 130 team members. The counting isn’t quite finished yet, but it is already apparent that we had a total of over 16,000 visitors, which is more than the last year. In the face of fewer screenings, this means that the average attendance for the events increased noticeably. On Friday, when the Open Air had to move indoors due to inclement weather, we had hundreds of visitors in our halls. It was gigantic! With more than 600 visitors from the world of short films, we were able to welcome more industry guests than ever, confirming us as one of the most important venues for both the national and international short film scene. We are especially happy about the many students among our visitors who found their way to “Hamburg’s Short Film School of Viewing”.

The new artistic director of the festival, Maike Mia Höhne, said, “The festival guests come from everywhere, the mix of competitions, night programmes, children, adolescents and concerts … A great togetherness, as it was intended to be. We are happy.”

Our new format FORUM, three rounds of talks with a thematic focus, attracted over 250 visitors to intense contemplations with international guests. An exciting addition to the film programmes in the CONTEMPORARY LABORATORY, and a place of exchange which was well received. It was a hell of a lot of fun.

Our festival centre Post at the Kaltenkircher Platz with its humongous halls had once again been a short film playground of nearly unlimited possibilities with installations, open air events, cinema, info counter, film market, concerts, dancefloor, minigolf course, panels and industry meetings. This place of culture always draws new visitors from the city to the festival and short film. We hope that we will be able to stay here for a long time and retain this place as a cultural location for Altona and the city.

The 36^th Hamburg Short Film Festival will take place from 2 June 2020 to 8 June 2020.

All award-winning films and the juries’ reasonings can be seen below.

From 9:00 pm onwards, you will be able to find stills from all award-winning films in our website’s press area. https://festival.shortfilm.com/en/partners-press/festival-logos-and-motives/press-fotos-and-designs/

21st Mo&Friese Children’s Short Film Festival

The 21st edition of Mo&Friese was able to lure more than 4,200 young and old viewers to 40 packed events in the cinemas. With 82 films from 32 countries, it is hard to be more diverse. In the day care centre events, roughly 300 pairs of children’s eyes lit up on their first visit to the cinema – an unforgettable experience for the four and five-year old kids: The whole balcony at the Zeise 1 was trembling! And the children asked, “Why is the film so short” or “Why is the film already over? So much work for so little time …” We hardly ever had so many atmospheric events with active kids and great questions. During the film “Raindance” (for children of 9 years and up), at first a few and eventually nearly all children ended up singing and dancing along. The youth programme Free Style had more visitors than on average in previous years as well and we had to move to the bigger auditorium with the intensely interested adolescents.

We are happy that more adults found their way to Mo&Friese this year, including over a hundred visitors to the Late Night. This may partially due to the fact that some of our events took place at the festival centre, including the “toons’n’tunes”, for which one teacher came with her students in the morning and with her own kids in the evening. The Mo&Friese Short Film Festival and the Short Film Festival have become places for the whole family. Or as one guest put it, “I was expecting more glamour, but less heart as well. It feels like a family, which is better than a red carpet”.

The award winners of both children’s programmes and the adolescent programme Free Style will be announced in a ceremony alongside the winners of the adult competitions tonight. We are looking forward to welcoming the children and adolescent juries tonight.

The winners of the 35th Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg

and of the 21st Mo&Friese Children’s ShortFilmFestival

International Competition

Jury: Ana David, Jennifer Reeder, Pawel Wieszczecinski, Pela del Álamo, Peter van Hoof

Jury statement: A deeply contemporary setup that drifts through our collective memory.
Tenderness and melancholy hold hands and in doing so they take us on a hypnotic journey through our own personal imaginary. ›Past Perfect‹ exceptionally looks back in time to carry out a shared experience of solitude in modern times.

Special Mention:

Rise

Bárbara Wagner, Benjamin de Burca, Brazil/USA/Canada 2019, 20:00 min

Jury statement: ›Rise‹ documents and celebrates a community of creatives with respect and sensitivity, considering the space of the performers as much as the performances, which are all powerful statements about being seen and being heard.
The beautiful and gifted subjects of this film are committed to the idea of telling and performing personal stories as a means for survival.

Jury statement: ›The Eddies‹ unpacks a specific kind of manliness with precision and thoughtfulness. It shifts from raw to lyrical as it binds together varying personal and cultural perspectives about sex, violence, intimacy, infrastructure and Freddy Mercury. This film has sharp edges and challenges prejudices with profound empathy.

Jury statement: What is that I am seeing when a wheel in motion suddenly changes speed and direction? A basic question about the physics of motion and perception is being demonstrated to the viewer in a seemingly simple and poetic way. This brilliantly constructed visual experience leaves its audience flabbergasted: what’s the trick? Can we trust our eyes? Thanks to Johann Lurf the Magic of Cinema still exists.

German Competition

Jury: Christoffer Olofsson, Emily Jacir, Peter Ott

Jury statement: For a deeply personal and empowering film. Richly textured in image and sound, this short film, a small prism, reflects and opens up towards multiple facets of human experience. Its sensitivity in seemingly tentative layers ends up as a complete and fully formed work of art. Thoroughly in command of her tools of expression, which are delicately balanced, the filmmaker communicates, with confidence and attitude, inner and outer spaces, and assures us that a place of refuge is always to be found. The award for the German Competition goes to: ›The Magical Dimension‹.

Special Mentions

The jury would also like to acknowledge two other extraordinary films in competition:

Little Lower Than the Angels

NEOZOON, Germany 2019, 13:13 min

Ink in Milk

Gernot Wieland, Germany 2018, 12:30 min

Three Minute Quickie Competition: Topic ›Lost in Translation‹

ARTE Short Film Award

Jury: Catherine Colas, Laurence Rilly

Jury statement: Representation meets realities and nothing is as it seems. This almost pathetic thought holds true in ›A Million Years‹. In the first film by Danech San from Cambodia, a young woman and her boyfriend are spending an afternoon in a hotel in a primordial landscape. She intelligently interweaves deep questions regarding tomorrow and today with the heat of the afternoon. The river meanders and the gulf between representation and reality becomes greater and greater. Contemporary cinema from Cambodia.

21^st Mo&Friese Children’s ShortFilmFestival

These prizes are awarded by both children’s juries.

Friese Jury: Liron Ayivi, Theresa Eimer, Lina Lau, Yuri Paul Hartlef

Mo Jury: Ava Betz, Emilia Eimer, Matteo Engel, Paula Gunst, Romy Twickel

Jury statement: The Friese Award of the 21st Hamburg Children’s Short Film Festival goes to ›Le premier pas‹ by David Noblet. Despite its shortness, there is a lot of story in this film. A whole lot is happening without a word being said. The story is narrated with gestures, facial expressions and sounds, and we liked that a lot. The two can communicate without words and get closer to each other, and all that on a boring parking space and without adult interference. At first, Bambi is shy and ashamed because Anais had seen him, but then they play together. And that is like many stories from the real world.

Jury statement: We think the film is very beautiful, emotional and touching because the story it is based on is very sad. After all, the protagonist is only being bullied because of the colour of his skin. Furthermore, the boy was really cute. He took care of the girl when she was in a bad place. The film is beautifully done, and the acting is really good.

Special Mention:

Skoldiskot (Slowdance)

Christian Zetterberg, Sweden 2018, 5:30 min

Jury statement: We would like to give a special mention to this film because of its clear message. A very, very important message because there are still a lot of people who are making fun of gays and lesbians.

7th Youth programme FreiStil

Jury: Justine Bankole, Zoe Bankole, Tristan Frehse, Felix Tomte Korth, Malte Kreyer, Florian Wobbe

Jury statement: This short fictional film is about three sisters who stick together in a dark home and who are building a strong bond through dance. This is important, since their environment and their caregiver make it difficult for them to have fun and put them to a hard test. Technically, the film is outstanding: The dark illumination, the beautiful cinematography, the extraordinary make-up and the outstanding sound effects are all top notch. But what makes the films so special in our eyes is the way the beautifully choreographed dance expresses the bond between the siblings. The film doesn’t need many words and says nearly everything through dance. A great round of applause for ›Sisters‹!

Special Mention: Togrøvere (Train Robbers)

Martin A. Walther, Norway 2019, 20:00 min

Jury statement: A special mention goes to the film ›Train Robbers› which not only impresses with its beautiful images and interesting camera perspectives, but also provides an interesting story based on true events in the 90s. It’s about a gang of juvenile delinquents in Norway who don’t fit into the system and, among other things, rob trains for more than two years. In this short film, we get a glimpse of their lives and their activities. We found the differences in how the lives of these young people differed from ours when they were our age fascinating. And despite all the differences, there are many things we have in common. Whether we go to school or rob trains, we all share the goal of being happy. This is what the film showed us. A big round of applause for ›Train Robbers‹, please.

Special Mention: FragMANts

NEOZOON, Germany 2019, 5:26 min

Jury statement: Most of us frequently use social media such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc on a daily base. ›FragMANts‹ is an experimental film that takes a humorous look at consumption presented on social media. The individual video clips form bizarre bodies that made us laugh. Therefore, the film became one of the Free Style Jury’s favourites. Especially the segment with the chicken drumsticks made us laugh. The accelerating rhythm parodies the religious fervour of consumption binges. We consider this humorous approach to the subject of consumption to be both creative and unusual. This character and its highly topical nature make this film extraordinary in our eyes.

HIGH FIVE! Competition

Short film competition for children under 14 years. Films running max. 5 minutes, produced solely for this competition. Topic 2019: ›Big Sounds‹. Awarded by the Mo-Jury and the Friese-Jury.

1st Prize (300 Euros)

Fortissimo

Lilith Jörg, Germany 2019, 2:28 min

The first prize of this year’s High Five Competition goes to Fortissimo by Lilith Jörg. We were impressed by the film because it was precisely focused on this year’s subject. There were many sounds and noises, some of them beautiful, others disturbing. The film maker had many new and original ideas when it comes to disturbing the cellist and his performance. The Claymation is well done, and you can even see the fingers moving. And in the end, there is a fitting end with beautiful music.

2nd Prize (200 Euros)

4161

Ecoli Helifi, Germany 2019, 5:00 min

The second prize goes to 4161 by the film group Ecolo Helifi. We saw that the children had put in a lot of thought about the future and found a creative way of dealing with the subject of the competition. The film made us think about the sounds around us and which of them we would like to preserve for the future.

3rd Prize (100 Euros)

The Greedy Fox

BIBIANA/Art for Children, Slovakian Republic 2018, 5:00 min

The third prize goes to The Greedy Fox by BIBIANA/Art for Children. The film is done on a nearly professional level and you can see how much work was put into the animation. There aren’t many great sounds in the film, but instead the fox shows us what happens when you bite off more than you can chew.