Credit: Dalboyne

At the Awards Ceremony of the 14th edition of CinEast, the Central and Eastern European Film Festival in Luxembourg, held at Kinepolis Kirchberg on Saturday, the International Jury awarded the Grand Prix to Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović's "Murina".

The International Jury awarded the Special Jury Prize to the Polish-German co-production "Never Gonna Snow Again" by Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert, whilst the Press Jury awarded the Critics' Prize to Bogdan George Apetri's "Miracle" (Romania / Czech Republic / Latvia). The new Young Talents Award went to the Polish film "Love Lasting" by Dawid Nickel. The winner of the Audience Award was the Croatian documentary "Love Around The World" by Davor and Andjela Rostuhar.

The International Jury was presided over by the Romanian director and scriptwriter Radu Jude and included Czech director Michaela Pavlátová, Luxembourgish producer and director Nicolas Steil, Luxembourgish actress and director Larisa Faber and Belgian co-director of the Brussels IFF Céline Masset. The Press Jury was composed of journalists Teresa Vena (Cineuropa), Tobias Keßler (Saarbrücker Zeitung) and Gabrielle Seil (Revue), whilst the newly introduced Young Talents Jury brought together Alix Andries, Luca Mahnke, Nikola Ozimkiewicz and Elsa Schweitzer, students of the BTS Cinema film studies at Lycée des Arts et Métiers (Luxembourg).

Radu Jude commented on the jury's decision regarding the Grand Prix winner as follows: "The main award goes to Murina, a coming-of-age story told with graceful vigour and with an incredible mise-en-scene of details".

A co-production between Croatia, the United States, Brazil and Slovenia, Murina tells the story of a teenage girl who decides to replace her controlling father with his wealthy foreign friend during a weekend trip to the Adriatic Sea. 

Larisa Faber presented the jury's decision to award the Special Jury Prize to "Never Gonna Snow Again", stating: "The second award goes to Never Gonna Snow Again for its well-crafted social critique, mesmerising cinematography and for its magical realism".

Teresa Vena announced the Press Jury's verdict related to the Critics' Prize for "Miracle" with the following words: "We chose a film that evokes from the beginning with its ambitious form, its long takes, impressive shots and dense mise-en-scène a nerve-racking atmosphere. It tells the story of a young woman, whose fates lies in the hands of several enigmatic male characters. Through a detail like someone's taste of music the film evokes in an unpretentious way a feeling of longing for a so-called better past - and uncertain future. With precise dialogues it deals with important topics such as religion and gender roles and shows that in the personal relationships lies the political relevance".

Nikola Ozimkiewicz and Alix Andries presented the verdict of the Young Talent Jury: "We decided to give the Young Talents Award to Love Tasting, because in our hearts we were really tasting, feeling, living the nuances of love and especially love relationships. The movie chooses a subject that exists since ever, love, and modernises it thanks to its wonderful image and sound aesthetics. It opens up our perception of love with subtility and humanity. We say 'love is blind' but in this movie we could say 'love is hypnotic' thanks to its special rhythm, music, and, above all, its characters".

Finally, the Audience Awards for the Best Short Films were awarded to "Boredom" by Alica Bednáriková (fiction, Slovakia), "Stolen Fish" by Gosia Juszczak (documentary, Poland) and "Red Shoes" by Anna Podskalská (animation, Czech Republic).

The ceremony was followed by the screening of the closing film "My Sunny Maad" by Michaela Pavlátová, followed by a Q&A with the director. 

The 14th edition of CinEast took place in hybrid format and presented 55 features and 35 short films from the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as several concerts, exhibitions, ciné-debates, themed evenings and gastronomic events. The festival ended on Sunday, but many films will still be available online, via the "CinEast Online Cinema" platform, until 7 November 2021.