Swiss films win awards at international festivals
Two feature film productions and just as many short film productions were honoured with awards at international festivals recently.
15.11.2010
This is already the eighth award for the film "Space Tourists" since it celebrated its premiere at the Zurich Film Festival in October 2009. The three-member jury of the festival, which is devoted to alpine and ethnological filmmaking, stated their decision to present the film the Grand Prix Graz as follows: "This film surprised us by taking us into a new terrain and fresh perspectives in adventure. An unlikely mix of scrub-metal dealers, former Cold War Space Race and rich American rocket tourists."
Daniel von Aarburg's doc-fiction film "Hugo Koblet - Pédaleur de charme" was honoured with the "Saturno d'oro" for Best Film at the 6th Saturno International Film Festival near Rome (November 8-13). The festival focused on portrayals of myths and legends for the cinema. Erik Bernasconi's "Sinestesia" won the Youth Jury Award at the 8th European Movies Festival in Igualada in Catalonia (November 3-7).
The film "Le quattro volte" by Italian director Michelangelo Frammartino (coproduction: Ventura Film, Meride) garnered two main awards: the Grand Prix for Best Film at the 12th International Film Festival Bratislava (November 5-11) "for its lyrical evocation of the cycle of life and death"; as well as the DOX:AWARD - the highest award at the 8th CPH:DOX International Documentary Film Festival in Copenhagen (November 4-14) - "for its ability to depict the large meaning of small things with black humour and a sense of poetic immediacy." The jury described the film as "a humoristic fable, which represents an entirely new type of film: the mythical documentary film."
As for the Swiss short film productions, the animation film "Schlaf" (Sleep) by Claudius Gentinetta and Frank Braun garnered a Special Mention from the jury at the 34th International Animated Film Festival in Espinho, Portugal (November 8-14). And Lionel Rupp's experimental short feature film "La forêt" (The Forest) also won a Special Mention from the jury at the 55th Cork Film Festival (November 7-14); the jury honoured the film "...for being, without doubt the most unusual and surprising film in competition" at this Irish festival.
Geneva, November 15, 2010