22-10-2018

FNE at 34th WFF: The Delegation Wins Grand Prix at 34th Warsaw International Film Festival

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    The Delegation by Bujar Alimani The Delegation by Bujar Alimani

    WARSAW: The Grand Prix of the 34th Warsaw International Film Festival went to The Delegation directed by Bujar Alimani, with several other prizes going to coproductions from the CEE region.

    The closing ceremony of the 34th Warsaw Film Festival took place on 20 October 2018 in Warsaw at Kinoteka. "The 190 films that we've presented this year at our festival were selected out of 5,000 submissions. What distinguishes us from other film festivals in Poland is the number of premieres we are presenting; we have over a dozen world premieres, European premieres, Cent-Eastern European premieres and Polish premieres. We like to seek out what is fresh in the cinema and we promote debutants. I hope that this year's winners will follow in the footsteps of Michael Haneke, Asghar Farhadi, Lenny Abrahamson and Cristian Mungiu, that came to us before they became famous, and we were proud to discover their films for the world," director of the Warsaw Film Festival Stefan Laudyn told FNE.

    The International Competition Jury members, including Piers Handling (Canada), Tolga Karaçelik (Turkey), Joanna Kos-Krauze (Poland), Nik Powell (UK) and Marek Rozenbaum (Israel), gave the Warsaw Grand Prix founded by the City of Warsaw to The Delegation directed by Bujar Alimani, a coproduction between Albania, France, Greece and Kosovo.

    Anca Damian was awarded with the Best Director prize for her work on Moon Hotel Kabul, a Romanian/French coproduction, and the Special Jury Award went to actress Martina Apostolova for her work in Irna, a Bulgarian film directed by Nadejda Koseva.

    The drama Her Job directed by. Nikos Labôt, a coproduction between Greece, France and Serbia, won the First Award in the 1-2 Competition. The main prize in the Documentary Competition went to Putting Lipstick on a Pig, an Estonian/Finnish film directed by Johan Karrento and the Short Grand Prix for the best short film was awarded to The Weightlifter directed by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, a coproduction between Poland and the Ukraine.

    The FIPRESCI Jury members, including Ida Rud Nielsen (Denmark), Monika Talarczyk (Poland), Artavazd Yeghiazaryan (Armenia), gave the award for the best debut from Eastern Europe to the film Her Job.

    Full list of winners:

    Warsaw Grand Prix (Award funded by the President of the Capital City of Warsaw)
    The Delegation / Delegacioni (Albania, France, Greece, Kosovo)
    Directed by Bujar Alimani

    Best Director
    Anca Damian for Moon Hotel Kabul (Romania, France)
    Produced by Aparte Film
    Coproduced by Cinema Defacto
    Supported by the Romanian Film Centre, the MEDIA Programme

    Special Jury Award
    Martina Apostolova, actress in Irna (Bulgaria)
    Directed by Nadejda Koseva
    Produced by Artfest
    Supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center

    Special Mention
    Eight out of Ten / Ocho de cada diez (Mexico)
    Directed by Sergio Umansky Brener

    COMPETITION 1-2

    Competition 1-2 Winner: First Award
    Her Job (Greece, France, Serbia)
    Directed by Nikos Labôt
    Produced by Homemade Films, Sister Productions, Sense Production (Serbia)

    Special Mentions

    Mate (China)
    Directed by Dae-gun Jung,

    Pure Lad (China)
    Directed by Zhenyu Sun

    FREE SPIRIT COMPETITION

    Free Spirit Award
    Out (France)
    Directed by Denis Parrot

    Special Mention
    Heavy Trip (Finland)
    Directed by Juuso Laatio, Jukka Vidgren

    DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

    Best Documentary Feature
    Putting Lipstick on A Pig (Estonia, Finland)
    Directed by Johan Karrento
    Produced by Zero - Fullt noll AB

    Special Mention
    Fading Mountains (China)
    Directed by Yuxi Cui

    SHORT FILMS COMPETITION

    Short Grand Prix
    Weightlifter (Poland, Ukraine)
    Directed by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk
    Produced by Munk Studio - Polish Filmmakers Association

    Best Live Action Short
    My Branch So Thin (Russia, France)
    Driected by Dinara Droukarova

    Best Animated Short
    Grand Bassin (France)
    Directed by Héloïse Courtois, Victori Jalabert, Chloé Plat, Adele Raigneau

    Best Documentary Short
    The Last Line of Fisherman (Sweden)
    Directed by Karolin Axelsson, Sweden

    FIPRESCI Award
    Her Job
    Directed by Nikos Labôt

    Ecumenical Jury Award
    Irna
    Directed by Nadejda Koseva

    Special Mention
    The Delegation
    Directed by Bujar Alimani

    NETPAC Award
    The Fall (China)
    Directed by Zhou Lidong