06-04-2008

Banned Estonian film Magnus wins Febiofest award

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    The banned Estonian film Magnus by director Kadri Kõusaar captured the top award at the Czech film festival Febiofest which wound up last weekend. The director won €5,000, and another €5,000 was awarded to support distribution of the winning film in the Czech Republic, according to the festival website (www.festiofest.cz).

    The Kristián awards were won by Jan Balej in the animation category for One Night in the City, Jan Šikl in the documentary category for A Private Century, Petr Nikolaev for the low-budget feature film It's Gonna Get Worse.

    Febiofest is the Czech Republic's biggest film festival, outstripping Karlovy Vary in terms of attendance. During its 10-day run in Prague, it presented 249 films from 64 countries. Some 50,000 tickets have been sold for the 14th edition of the festival, which now moves to eight other Czech cities before moving on to Slovakia.

    Magnus is the story of a sensitive young boy with a death wish, who twice attempts suicide. Although the film is fiction, it is based on a real-life event and relatives of the prototype successfully sought a court ruling to ban the film.

    Kadri Kousaar's feature debut was launched in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival last year.