Truly Masterful: The Short Film award winners in Hamburg

All award winners of the 27th Hamburg International Short Film Festival 2011

There are always plenty of reasons to celebrate short films and tonight, the focus will be on the award winners of the 27th Hamburg International Short Film Festival. Among them is the masterly debut of the Belgian director Rachel Lang. Her graduation short film For You I Will Fight will receive the jury award of the International Competition (Hamburger Kurzfilmpreis). Furthermore the winners of the jury and audience awards in the German Competition, NoBudget Competition, Three-Minute-Quickie Competition as well the competition spanning awards by arte and ZDF_neo will be announced and receive their well deserved adulations. And we will applaud the winners of the 13th Mo&Friese Children’s ShortFilmFestival, who were selected by two children's juries, too.

Another winner this year was our festival centre: The Meisterwerkstatt was the central meeting point for our accredited guests, the interested audience and the members of the team. Among the numerous well attended events at the former factory site at Friedensallee 128 were Open Air screenings which proved that the general interest in short films is great enough to lure in audiences in spite of the often fickle and unpleasant weather of Hamburg in June.

If you have missed one of the excellent films during the festival week, you will have a chance to watch all award winning films on Monday 13 June 2011 at 7:45 PM at the zeise cinema.

You can find all award winners here. For photos of the award winners, please go to our website at: http://festival.shortfilm.com


International Competition
Jury: Elisabeth Bronfen, Jan Harlan, Marie Kjellson, Gordan Radovanovic,
Iris Rottschäfer

Hamburg Short Film Award (Jury Award of the International Competition, 3000 Euros)
For You I Will Fight (Pour Toi Je Ferai Bataille)
Rachel Lang, Belgium 2010, 21:00 min., Fiction
Jury statement:
The jury felt that this film succeeded in bringing us close to the life of this young woman, who was lost and desperate and finally sought rescue in the army. This is a rounded film and good story telling by a first time filmmaker; well directed, photographed and acted.

Special Mention:

I’m Not the Enemy
Bjørn Melhus, Germany 2011, 12:50 min., Experimental
It is most admirable to address such a serious topic of mental illness and post war trauma in a very innovative visual style. It was the only film in this competition that deals with this timely and compelling concern.


Audience Award (1500 Euros), given to a short film from the International ort he German Competition
Las Palmas
Johannes Nyholm, Sweden 2011, 13:30 min., Fiction


NoBudget Competition
Jury: Diana Linz, Andrea Martignoni, Kyros Kikos

No Budget Jury Award (2000 Euros)
Monkey Spa
Dragan Zivancevic / Dragan Matic / Zeljko Piskoric, Serbia 2011, 20:11 min., Documentary Fiction

Jury statement:
A beautiful, funny idea, a pie-in-the-sky attitude, a fine sense of images, camera work and composition; a soundtrack that perfectly supports the images. All this is embedded in a broader context that tries to get to the bottom of the society and energy policy of one’s own country. The film has been made with minimal technical equipment and financial support. No Budget par excellence.

Special mention:

Stuck in a Groove
Clemens Kogler, Austria 2010, 4:10 min., Experimental
A minimal animation that tells stories out of a time when cinema was still in its infancy. A strong impression is created by means of fine humour and rather simple equipment.

Circle
Minna Parkkinen, Finland 2009, 7:40 min., Experimental
Poetry comes shortly before kitsch. The filmmaker keeps her secret about an apparently very personal conflict beyond the end of the film. Nevertheless she leaves us behind with a rather disconcerting melancholy which one can hardly withdraw from.

Sailor & Son (Schipper en Zoon)
Loeske Bult, Netherlands 2010, 19:53 min., Documentary
A documentary created with the most elementary means. Simple shots, discreet camera work, no frills and effects – all these give priority to the moving relationship between an old sailor and his mentally disabled son.
Gabi or Two Colours Yellow (Gabi oder zwei Farben Gelb)
Per Olaf Schmidt, Germany 2011, 24:00 min., Fiction
Perhaps we just don’t want to watch this film ever again, but we surely won’t forget it: trash for pros. Tenacious, cumbersome, and with an overlong, mantra-like monologue that consists of only one word: Mama. Painfully consequent.


NoBudget Audience Award ›Optimistic Vision‹ (1500 Euros)
This yearʼs national award goes to the two following films:

The Streets of the Invisibles
Remo Rauscher, Austria 2010, 11:15 min., Experimental Animation

Die Fliegen (The Birds II)
Susann Maria Hempel, Germany 2010, 7:30 min., Experimental



German Competition
Jury: Andrea Hohnen, Jörn Staeger, Gerald Weber

Jury Award (2000 Euros)
Home (Daheim)
Olaf Held, Germany 2010, 30:00 min., Fiction

Jury statement:
The story of a man who walks out from the German Erzgebirge woods to find his piece of the cake. ‚Home’ is a film about the peculiar German notion of homeland, which tells of farewell, nostalgia and return with a dry sense of humour, few words and marvelously adequate music. This little jewel from Chemnitz indicates great cinematographic awareness – the short utilises genuine means of cinema, the narration springs from images, economic in its use of time and rhythm. And so it happens, that a German film with linguistic local colour offers worldwide comprehension.

Special Mention:

The Photographer’s Wife (Die Frau des Fotografen)
Philip Widmann / Karsten Krause, Germany 2011, 29:30 min., Documentary
Opalescent, multi-layered and establishing a long-lasting feeling of irritation: ‚The Photographer’s Wife’ revolves around the elementary topics time and mortality. With an almost manic dedication to his private archive, the eponymous amateur photographer is trying to catch hold of time. His wife literally embodies the beauty of time going by – meanwhile challenging our notion of ‚woman’: can an aging body be attractive? Furthermore, almost amazed, we are discovering the most beautiful dimension of time: a life-long love story.


Hamburg Competition

Hamburg Audience Award presented by Pilsner Urquell (1500 Euros)
Stranger at Home (Wie ein Fremder)
Lena Liberta, Germany 2010, 23:30 min., Fiction


Three Minute Quickie Competition: Topic ’German’

Audience Award (1000 Euros), funded by the Hamburgische Kulturstiftung
Felix...
Anselm Belser, Germany 2010, 0:43 min., Fiction

arte-Short Film Award
Jury: Sabine Brantus, Barbara Häbe

arte-Short Film Award (6000 Euros). Acquisition of screening rights and broadcast as part of arte’s short film programme.
Warisover
Carlos Morelli, Germany 2010, 9:00 min., Fiction

Jury statement:
The short film warisover convinced us with its simplicity and clarity. It was produced in a minimalistic fashion and it goes to the heart of a deeply humane drama. The director Carlos Morelli displayed an intense and masterly ability to transpose a political and humane issue into the shortest form of film. We congratulate the director for his work and we are happy to present him with the arte-Short Film Award.



ZDF_neo-Award
Jury: Angelika Hoffmann, Andrea Eisel

ZDF_neo-Award (Acquisition of screening rights and a broadcast on ZDF_neo for 200 Euros per minute)
Manolo
Robert Bohrer, Germany 2010, 18:30 min., Fiction
Jury statement:
“Bomber Mike”, the king of the splash-divers in Neukölln, Berlin, takes his shy cousin Manolo into the realm of the unfulfilled yearnings of pubescent teenagers – the open air pool. As the twelve-year-old becomes an involuntary part of the game for girls, attention, jealousy and rivalry, he finds himself challenged by both his cousin and a ten meter high test of courage. Robert Bohrer's coming of age story takes us into a microcosm that is governed by its own independent set of rules. Maximal water displacement leads to maximal attention. The camera work and dramatic crane shots hint at who the actual hero is. And while Robert Bohrer exaggerates his characters, he never turns them into ridiculous caricatures. At the same time, he mixes an intoxicating summery tex-mex sound cocktail. The opening and end credits are full of small citations of Almodovar and James Bond, making them unusually rompish and salacious.



Mo&Friese Children’s ShortFilmFestival
These prizes are presented by both children’s juries.

Mo-Award sponsored by GEOLino (Jury award, 1250 Euro, from age 9)
Chalk
Martina Amati, Great Britain 2010, 18:00 min., Fiction

Jury statement:
The film deeply impressed us and appealed to us so much because the narration was full of verve and due to the beauty of the style. The images were very fascinating, because they were of a calm colour. The friendship that went up and down and through crises intoxicatingly put us under its spell. The actors appeared very convincing.


Friese Award sponsored by Springer Bio-Backwerk (Jury award, 1250 Euro, age 4 - 8)
Duck, Death and the Tulip
Matthias Bruhn, Germany 2010,10:00 min., Animation

Jury statement:
We liked this film the best because it tells a sad story in a nice way. We felt sympathetic for the duck and also for death. The great animation work and the music fit well to the story. The duck is very funny and death is quite calm, in the end you realise that he liked the duck a lot.


„High five!“ Competition
(A total of 600 Euros – sponsored by GEOlino, presented by the Mo-Jury and Friese-Jury)

1st Prize (300 Euros)
Dance-Weapon
Carl Albrecht, Germany 2010, 5:00 min., Animation
This film is very funny and we had great fun watching it. Especially funny was the tiger playing a news reporter. We liked the music in the dance scenes and the film has a joky love story.

2nd Prize (200 Euros)
Curse of the Pharao II
Midas Kempcke, Germany 2010, 2:19 min., Animation
This film convinced us with it’s great technical realization. The animation of the Playmobil figures is rather professional and we could see how much work was put into this film.

3rd Prize (100 Euros)
Aquarell-City 3900
Moviebande Donauwörth, Germany 2010, 5:00 min., Animation
The third place goes to the film ‘Aquarell-City 3900’. We liked the script and the music used in the film fits the story. The set was nice and we could see that the filmmakers have put a lot of effort into it.