Awards ceremony;
Credit: Dalboyne
At the Awards Ceremony of the 13th edition of CinEast, the Central and Eastern European Film Festival in Luxembourg, the International Jury awarded the Grand Prize to Ivan Ostrochovský's "Servants" (Slovakia / Romania / Czech Republic / Ireland) and the Special Jury Prize to Andrea Štaka's "Mare" (Switzerland / Croatia).
The Critics' Prize, awarded by the Press Jury, went to the film "Stories from the Chestnut Woods" by Gregor Božič (Slovenia / Italy), whilst the winner of the Audience Award was Alexander Nanau's "Collective" (Romania / Luxembourg).
The International Jury of the festival, which took place this year from 8-25 October 2020, was composed of Heleen Gerritsen, the director of the goEast festival, Jani Thiltges, a Luxembourgish producer and CEO of Samsa Film, Boyd van Hoeij, a film critic and president of the selection committee of Film Fund Luxembourg, and Zoé Wittock, a Belgian director, under the chairmanship of Polish director and screenwriter Tomasz Wasilewski. The Press Jury included Yasemin Elçi (The Luxembourg Times), Elena Lazic (Cineuropa / freelance) and António Raúl Reis (BOM DIA / Contacto).
Zoé Wittock explained the jury's decision to award the Grand Prize to "Servants" as follows: “For its breathless and nightmarish vision of a system that even tries to control moral and personal beliefs, for its story interpreted by a group of formidable actors, its insidious soundtrack and its black and white images reminiscent of totalitarian Manichaeism, we award the Grand Jury Prize to Servants by Ivan Ostrochovský".
Boyd van Hoeij justified the jury's decision to award the Special Jury Prize to "Mare": “For its subtle and atmospheric evocation of a routine that is not unhappy, but never satisfying either, of a mother and woman from Dubrovnik, interpreted with nuance and intelligence by Marija Skaricic, we award the Special Jury Prize to Andrea Štaka for Mare".
Yasemin Elçi presented the verdict of the Press Jury: “We were impressed by the control that Gregor Božič exercises over all aspects of Stories from the Chestnut Woods, his warm cinematography and its hypnotic music drawing us into the atmospheric and alluring world of film, on the border between fiction and reality, dream and memory. The spirit of each of the characters is revived by the introduction of surreal elements. The Slovenian director demonstrates a rare aptitude for constructing imagery and narrative structures that continually appeal to the audience, as well as a rare eye for the everyday but transcendent beauty of simple things, such as a game between old men, an ancient forest, an isolated house, or young women singing and dancing. We all can't wait to see what this young director will do in the future". The Press Jury also decided to award a special mention to the film "Father" by Serbian director Srdan Golubović.
"Collective", co-produced by the Luxembourg company Samsa Film, obtained the best results from the public vote and thus won the Audience Award. The Audience Awards for best short films went to: "Lake of Happiness" by Aliaksei Paluyan (fiction, Belarus / Germany / Spain), "Way of Silvie" by Verica Pospíšilová Kordić (animation, Czech Republic) and "We Have One Heart" by Katarzyna Warzecha (documentary, Poland).
The award ceremony, with the participation of members of the International Jury and the Press Jury and other guests, was followed by the screening of the film "Sweat" by Magnus von Horn. "Servants", which won the festival's Grand Prize, was screened on Sunday, the last day of the festival, at the Cinémathèque in Luxembourg City.
The festival may have come to an end but many films will still be available online (with a limited and geo-blocked number of views for Luxembourg) via the “CinEast Online Cinema”, a dedicated VOD platform (cineast.eventive.org), until 8 November 2020.
