Winners proclaimed as the 22nd YFF and the 10th FRFF close!
Karlovac, 16 September - The award ceremony of this year’s 22nd Youth Film Festival and 10th Four River Film Festival was held today at the Aquatika aquarium in Karlovac. In total 19 awards were given by the international jury and the youth jury.
The project Finding Humanity, which had 16 young filmmakers and 4 mentors participating during the festivals, was presented at the start of the award ceremony. The mentor Fabian Becker from Germany explained that the basic theme of the project were human rights and that the documentary form was selected as the ideal medium for transmitting the message about the importance of maintaining and protecting human rights. National groups are currently working on the project concept, and the idea is that each group will make a short documentary which will be distributed together with films of other groups at an international level.
The youth jury this year included 29 members from Hungary, Germany, Macedonia, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. They have decided on seven awards: the award for best actor was awarded for the part in the film I Want to Beat Up Clark Peters from USA, and the award for best actress for the part in the film Addy from the UK.
A group of authors - Klara Rihtar, Lucija Katarina Šešelj, Sara Milić and Lucija Bekavac – received the award for best directing for the documentary Lares Penatesque, produced by the Zagreb Classical High School Film group. The same authors won the best screenplay award for their above mentioned film. The best cinematography award was won by the film Skins by author Sara Grgurić, and the best editing award was won by the film Are You Following Me? by a group of authors in the production of the Dubrovnik Paola Di Rosa students dorm.
The Yellow Flag Award, granted to filmmakers from Croatia and the world who with their themes and story are most successful and convincing at condemning violence, was won according to the Swedish-American film The True Impact by authors Sarah Randolph and Babar Ali.
Members of the jury, visual artist Luka Hrgović, actor Frano Mašković and the international guest, Alison McCloskey, project leader for young film talents of the British Film Institute, decided which were the best films of this year’s festivals. According to the jury, the best works of the 22nd Youth Film Festival were: Suburbian Ballad by directors Martina Anić and Marijana Barišić produced by FKVK Zaprešić as the best animated film; Branka by authors Karla Anić and Lucija Petkoviček produced by FKVK Zaprešić as the best documentary film; Skins by author Sara Grgurić as the best fiction film, and Phobikonby director Lucija Strugar from the Zabok School for Art, Design, Graphics and Clothes as the best film in the freestyle category.
Two films also won special recognitions: the documentary Lares Penatesque by the Zagreb Classical High School Film group and the fiction film Willow by author Vida Žagar from Varaždinske Toplice.
The best international films were: Forget Me Not by authors Miona Račić, Katarina Vulić and Isidora Vulić from Serbia as the best animated film, Another Kind of Girl by author Khaldiye Jibawi from Jordan as the best documentary film, The Portraits by director Tamar (Tamuna) Saneblidze from Georgia as the best fiction film; and finally Jabal Mehsen and Beb El Tebbeneh by a group of authors from Lebanon as the best film in the freestyle category.
The best film according to the festival audience was Ernie! by author Hadley Hillel from USA, a great friend of the festival who has been coming for years to Karlovac and has collected six awards.
Finally, the festival Grand Prix was awarded to the animated film Mr. Alfonso’s Geraniums by director Carlota Alvarez Feijoo from Spain.
The last two awards of this year’s festival editions were presented by Sanja Zanki, head of festival and educational programs of the Croatian Film Association and Ksenija Sanković, head of media programs of the Cinema Club Karlovac. Dominik Rački won the participation at the Seattle Prodigy Camp for the most talented film makers, while Rebeka Čuljak won the award for the best Pitch in the Pack & Pitch workshop. She will have the opportunity to participate in the Los Angeles Relativity School workshop next year. Croatian Film Association secretary Matko Burić presented the above mentioned award.
16.09.2017.