04-04-2014

Vilnius IFF 2014: Winners have been announced

By Lisa Nema

    VILNIUS: Vilnius International Film Festival closed its 19th edition on April 3. There were two competition programmes: “New Europe – New Names” and “Baltic Gaze”, which was launched in 2014.

    Vilnius IFF Winners 2014A Romanian film by Tudor Cristian Jurgiu Japanese Dog starring Victor Rebengiuc, won best film and a $9,600 cash award late Thursday at the Vilnius International Film Festival.

    Other winners in the main competition, awarded by a jury chaired by Japanese actress and producer, Kaori Momoi, were: best director Levan Koguashvili for Blind Dates (Georgia); best actor Igor Samobor (Class Enemy, Slovenia); best actress Michaela Bendulova (Miracle, Slovakia, Czech Republic). The CICAE, international art house cinema organization, awarded Rok Bicek, director of Class Enemy.

    In the “Baltic Gaze” competition, best film was The Hope Factory, a debut of Russian director Natalia Meshaninova; best director was Poland's Pawel Pawlikowski for Ida; best actor Lauri Lagle for Free Range, (Estonia, dir.: Veiko Ounpuu); and best actress Alexandra Finder  (The Police Officer’s Wife, Germany, dir.: Philip Groning).

    Best short film was Pandas by Slovak director Matus Vizar. Audience awards went to Palestinian film Omar, directed by Hany Abu-Assad and short film Kush by India's Shubhashish Bhutiani.