20th Youth Film Festival and 8th Four River Film Festival ended with the 'Yellow Flag Award', the Audience Award and special awards 'Talent Camp Odense' and 'Prodigy camp'!
The Danish film 'After the match' directed by Adam Paaske from the film group Station Next won the Grand Prix at the 20th Youth Film Festival and 8th Four River Film Festival. According to the expert jury, consisting of Alexandre Juruena, Rada Šešić and Cheryll Hidalgo, they recognized the excellent acting and strong emotions it stirred in the audience while showing the grieving process. The camera followed the story excellently and left space for the audience to be identified with the pain of the central character. This movie really deserves our highest appreciation.
The winners
Alexandre Juruena got his Master's at School of Contemporary Art -UFF (Federal Fluminense University) and he is a professor of animation and director of the festival Anim!Arte (International Student Animation Festival of Brazil). Šešić works as a screenwriter, director and film critic. She is a professor of the Dutch Film Academy in Amsterdam. Cheryll Hidalgo is the creator of the program for film/video production at the Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences (SAAS), in Seattle, Washington, USA.
The jury of experts awarded the film 'Anna' by Marko Bičanić and Nika Vahčić from Zagreb's Blank_film incubator in the national competition of the 20th Youth Film Festival in the freestyle category. In the feature film category, the award went to the film 'Bara's constant' by Matija Piralić from the Cinema Club Karlovac. Matija Piralić took another award – the 'Yellow Flag' for his film 'In the Name of Burek'. With this unique recognition young filmmakers in competition programme with their works contribute to non-violence on film. 17 young authors from Croatia and the world have this year competed for the Yellow Flag, and a three-member jury made up of three talented and successful high school students decide which film has this year best contributed to non-violence through cinematic expression.
Matija Piralić
'This award is given to the film that promotes the expression of the struggle against violence among young people. This year the award has remained in Karlovac, and the film 'In the Name of Burek' tells us about the attitude towards minorities in society and the young filmmakers from abroad which decided who will get this award have excellently concluded that the greatest violence happens to those who cannot answer to violence. This award is great because it talks about various aspects of violence. In this sense, Karlovac has set new standards because it is not just about high school film festival but also about a socially responsible Festival, "said Boško Picula, a member of the selection committee and workshop leader on film reviews.
'A House Full of Sava' by young director Mario Mateljić from MMC SKIG in Gunja, won the award for best documentary, while in the category of animated films, the best-rated movie was D D DRAGON by Lucija Majnarić from FKVK Zaprešić.
In the international competition of the 8th Four River Film Festival, the jury awarded the prize in the category of free-style film to the film Dorian Gray made by a group of authors from Ljubljana, in the category of feature films to the film 'The Best Attempt' by Hadley Hillel, and in the category of documentary the winner was the Portuguese film 'What day is it today?, while the Belgian film 'Grand Finale' took the victory in the category of animated film.
The little jury
The 'little jury' also had its say, i.e. 28 young film lovers from Italy, Macedonia, Denmark, Croatia, Serbia and Hungary. They decided on the best actress, actor, director, director of photography, screenwriter and editor. The best actor and best actress come from Denmark and have received awards for the films 'After the match' and 'Boy'. Best director and best screenwriter in the opinion of the jury was the young Hadley Hillel, and the prize went for the film "Best Attempt". According to the little jury, the director of the film tells us a funny story. His naive protagonist and his fantastic and weird universe make him the best. The idea of the film is original, the story is well summarized and simple which makes the theme and message of the film stronger. Hadley also took the Audience Award and with four awards in total became the absolute winner of the 8th Four River Film Festival.
"I am honored by all the prizes I received and am very happy that the audience liked the film. It made people laugh, and I couldn't ask for more. This is one of the best festivals I've been to. The energy is great, the people are brilliant and this is a great life experience. I would like to come again next year, "said Hadley Hillel.
Hadley Hillel
The award for best cameraman for the second year in a row goes to Pavle Kocanjer from Karlovac association 'Out of Focus' in the film Streets of KLC, and the prize for best film editor went to Portugal for the film 'What day is it today?'.
Apart from the official awards, two special prizes were awarded this year!
Tin Vučković, member of the 'Out of Focus' Association and long-time member of the organizing team of the Youth Film Festival and Four River Film Festival, won the award for going to the Danish Film Camp 'Talent Camp Odense' and Leo Vitasović, young and talented director of 'Voicemail', won a trip to Seattle and to the 'Prodigy camp'.
I'm going to Denmark! I do not know how strong the competition was and it caught me completely by surprise. I'm the official photographer of the Festivals and I thought there was a mistake the moment they pronounced my name,. This summer I'm going to Denmark and I'm delighted, "said Tin Vučković.
Interactive lecture and debate about violence in films
Before the Yellow Flag award ceremony and for the first time in Karlovac under the program anti-violence in society program, we organized an educational and interactive lecture "Media and Violence" as part of the activities of the Association for Communication and Media Culture (DKMK) and Kids Media Project. We also organized a traditional debate with the topic of fight against violence in society, in the context of violence on film. Young filmmakers gave their arguments and answers to the question 'Should children and youth films contain scenes of verbal and physical violence?'
The debate
'Pobijedila je negacijska strana koja se zalagala za to da fizičko i verbalno nasilje ne bi trebalo biti prisutno u filmovima za mlade, odnosno da se proces može izraziti na drugačiji način i pomoći ljudima da suosjećaju s boli protagonista, a ne da prikazuju proces fizičkog i verbalnog nasilja' rekla je Dalia Alić, sudionica debate.
The debate
The famous film professionals at the panel discussion 'How to become a successful film professional from a high school filmmaker?' and fiery performance after the award ceremony
Director of photography Boris Poljak, dramaturgist Luka Rukavina, director and producer Tiha Gudac, actor Frano Mašković, curator of film festivals Rada Šešić, a member of the selection committee of the festival and media studies professor Ana Đordić, young actor Filip Mayer and director Leo Vitasović shared their experience, knowledge and advice on the educational panel discussion entitled 'How to become a successful film professional from a high school filmmaker?'.
Burning the banana
As banana was selected for this year's visual identity of the Karlovac festival, master of sculpture Nikola Faller and his assistant Bojan Kiski, professor of fine arts from Karlovac, gave a workshop on creating straw sculptures on the first day of the festival, and at the announcement of winners on June 26th, in a fiery performance they burned the five meters tall banana placed on Korana River.
This year, of the 398 films submitted from around the world, the selection committee has chosen 72 films competing for the 17 awards and two 'special' awards. Youth Film Festival and Four River Film Festival are the central place for Croatian high school filmmaking, and they were held from June 23 to 27 in Karlovac.
28.06.2015.