21-11-2017

FNE at CINEDAYS 2017: Heartstone Wins Best Film Award in Skopje

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    Cinedays ceremony - Award for Heartstone Cinedays ceremony - Award for Heartstone

    SKOPJE: The Icelandic/Finnish drama film Heartstone / Hjartasteinn directed by Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson, scooped the best film award in the official selection of the 16th Festival of European Film Cinedays, which ended on 19 November 2017.

    The jury composed of Semih Kaplanoglu, Evgenia Tirdatova and Maria Drandaki selected Heartstone out of eight films in the Official Selection, describing the film as "a frank and profound description of the problems that teens face during their growth".

    Vangelis Mourikis, Yannis Sakaridis and Yannis Tsirbas won the best screenplay award for Amerika Square / Plateia Amerikis (Greece, UK, Germany) and György Kristóf received the best director award for his film Out (Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic) because it "creates a true picture of today's life in Eastern Europe".

    The Albanian/Greek coproduction Daybreak / Dita zë fill by Gentian Koçi was named best out of the six films in the CineBalkan competition programme, and the special award in this selection was given to the Croatian film The Trampoline / Trampolin by Katarina Zrinka Matijević. The jury consisted of Film New Europe correspondent, film critic and producer Pavlina Jeleva, and actors Velibor Topić and Nik Xhelila.

    The student film award went to Clean by Neven Samardžič from the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo.

    The Macedonian/Greek coproduction The Secret Ingridient / Iscelitel written and directed by Gjorce Stavreski, which was screened in the noncompetitive Gala Program, closed the festival. The screening was the Macedonian premiere of the film, which recently had its world premiere during Thessaloniki Film Festival. The film is a Macedonian/Greek coproduction, financially supported by the Macedonian Film Agency, the Greek Film Center and the SEE Cinema Network.

    FULL LIST OF WINNERS:

    Official Competition:

    Golden Star (Best Film): Heartstone / Hjartasteinn (Iceland, Denmark)
    Directed by Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson

    Silver Star (Best Director): Out (Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic)
    Directed by György Kristóf
    Produced by SentimentalfilmKMH Film ProductionsEndorfilm, Mirage, Punkchart filmsRTVSFAMU
    Supported by Audiovizuálny fondMagyar Nemzeti FilmalapStátní fond kinematografie

    Cinedays ceremony - Gentian KoçiBlue Star (Best Screenplay): Amerika Square / Plateia Amerikis (Greece, UK, Germany)
    Directed by Yannis Sakaridis

    CineBalkan Competition:

    Golden Star (Best Film): Daybreak / Dita zë fill (Albania, Greece)
    Directed by Gentian Koçi

    Special Mention: The Trampoline / Trampolin (Croatia)
    Directed by Katarina Zrinka Matijević
    Produced by Interfilm
    Supported by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre

    Student Competition: Clean by Neven Samardžič (Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo)

    Film Review Award: Maksim Osman Nikolov (second prize) and Sasho Psenko (third prize)