EAMI van Paz Encina wint IFFR 2022 Tiger Award

De magisch-realistische film EAMI van de Paraguayaanse filmmaker Paz Encina won de Tiger Award en €40.000. Excess Will Save Us van de Franse filmmaker Morgane Dziurla-Petit en To Love Again van de Chinese regisseur Gao Linyang wonnen beiden een Tiger Competition Special Jury Award. De VPRO Big Screen Award ging naar Kung Fu Zohra van de Franse filmmaker Mabrouk El Mechri. De Ammodo Tiger Short Awards werden uitgereikt aan Becoming Male in the Middle Ages van de Portugese filmmaker Pedro Neves Marques, Nazarbazi van de Iraanse regisseur Maryam Tafakory en Nosferasta: First Bite van de Amerikaanse filmmakers Bayley Sweitzer en Adam Khalil. De competitiefilms die tijdens het festival exclusief online zijn vertoond voor pers en filmprofessionals, zullen later in het jaar in de bioscoop voor publiek te zien zijn.

Tiger Competition

De Tiger Award ging naar EAMI van Paz Encina. Deze krachtige ode aan de natuur heeft de passende titel ‘Eami’ – dat zowel ‘bos’ als ‘wereld’ betekent. In deze film vol met inheemse Ayoreo-Totobiegosode mythologie, doolt de jonge protagonist Eami door het Paraguayaanse regenwoud nadat haar gemeenschap noodgedwongen uiteenvalt door ontbossing in het gebied. Het project ontving in 2017 ontwikkelingssteun van IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fonds. Hierbij won EAMI in 2019  een award van NFF+HBF Co-production Scheme via de Nederlandse co-producent Revolver Amsterdam.

Juryleden: Zsuzsi Bankuti, Gust Van den Berghe, Tatiana Leite, Thekla Reuten, Farid Tabarki 

Juryrapport: “We were unanimously affected by the powerful film created by the director and the team that succeeds in building a strong narrative that not only sustains itself visually, politically and also poetically, putting the lights on the global massacres of indigenous tribes, through the cry of the Paraguayan Ayoreo Totobiegosode. This film gave us the opportunity to dream and at the same time the chance to wake up.”

Tiger Competition Special Jury Awards

De jury kende ook twee Tiger Competition Special Jury Awards toe. De Franse Morgane Dziurla-Petit nam een award in ontvangst voor haar speelse verhaal over familiebanden in Excess Will Save Us. De Chinese filmmaker Gao Linyang won met zijn debuutfilm To Love Again, een overtuigende observatie van een getraumatiseerd koppel in het hedendaagse China.

Juryrapport Excess Will Save Us:

“This is a real debut film, unique in every possible way, full of ideas and crazy storytelling, proving that hybrid filmmaking can be hilarious and also reach audiences. It is a very generous film, bridging the gap between several worlds. Actors and non-actors, the past, the present and the future. It is a village v.s. the world with all its current issues.

The beauty lies in the complexity of every character, their hopes and dreams, the situation of small individuals dealing with outside problems that seem too big for them to understand, and then their fantasy steps in. It is also the kind of film where the filmmaker and the making of the film plays a huge role and is intertwined with a scripted plot. The film is funny, extremely moving and always original.”

Juryrapport To Love Again:

“We are all too aware of complex conflicts all around the world that have deep and painful roots in history and that have wounded societies and people. The jury was moved by this light at times humorous portrait and the gentle perspective of two characters with most of their life behind them. A small yet revolutionary idea of this optimistic yet scarred couple stirs up more emotion than expected. The will to bury the past and the present harmoniously is strong but proves difficult. The filmmaker walks a thin line and leaves space for the viewer to decide if the past can be forgiven and if indeed, we allow ourselves To Love Again.”

Big Screen Competition

De VPRO Big Screen Award werd door een publieksjury uitgereikt aan Kung Fu Zohra van de Franse filmmaker Mabrouk El Mechri, een film die de conventies van kungfufilms toepast op de thematiek van huiselijk geweld.

Juryleden: Louk Haffmans, Karen Kroese, Eva Langerak, Mylaine Roelofs, Alex Spaanderman

Juryrapport: “As the lucky members of this year’s Big Screen Award, we had the unique experience of watching nine movies in an almost empty KINO theater. Given the name of this award, we are convinced that we could only make a fair judgment when they were shown on a big screen.  In four days, we became familiar with a surprising range of genres, perspectives and topics. We also felt that most movies were, in their own way, urgent, because they showed us something about political power, the environment, sexual harassment or gender identities. As a jury, we were blown away by one film specifically…

Due to the unconventional use of different film genres and humor as a tool to address the film’s severe topic, the viewer is subsequently caught off guard, which causes one to feel emotionally triggered. The film breaks through expectations; forming a balancing act, in which the director addresses controversial themes in an accessible way. We expect viewers to raise critical points about the chosen format of this film, as well as the central theme.”

Robby Müller Award

De Robby Müller Award eert een ‘beeldmaker’ (cinematograaf, filmmaker of kunstenaar) die in de geest van de overleden Nederlandse cameraman Robby Müller een authentieke, geloofwaardige en aangrijpende beeldtaal heeft ontwikkeld met zijn of haar gehele oeuvre. De award is een samenwerking tussen IFFR, de Netherlands Society of Cinematographers (NSC) en Andrea Müller-Schirmer, Robby Müller’s echtgenote.

Juryleden: Andrea Müller-Schirmer, Jay Rabinowitz, Josje van Erkel, Richard van Oosterhout, Evgeny Gusyatinskiy, Gerwin Tamsma.

Juryrapport: 

“The images that Mukdeeprom creates always captures the fragility of things, an immanent tactility, understated yet profound. Somehow, the result appears to honor these things: be it a man, a plant, a ray of light, a dance, a dream, a flow of time, nature itself. When he films an empty space, it becomes clear that it was actually never empty.

We can say that Sayombhu’s quiet, respectful eye has animated even the most surreal stories, revealing them as real, or at least potentially real. He discovers the real, the natural, and the sensual within the realm of pure fiction. And vice versa: when he turns his camera to things undoubtedly real and unstaged, his images conjure up dreams and mysterious imaginations.”

Ammodo Tiger Short Competition

De juryleden van de Ammodo Tiger Short Competition deelden drie Ammodo Tiger Short Awards uit. Becoming Male in the Middle Ages van de Portugese filmmaker Pedro Neves Marques won met diens intieme verhaal over queer seksualiteit. Nazarbazi van de Iraanse filmmaker Maryam Tafakory won met haar intense collage over de Iraanse film, waarin mannen en vrouwen elkaar niet mogen aanraken op het witte doek. Nosferasta: First Bite van de Amerikaanse filmmakers Bayley Sweitzer en Adam Khalil, een vampierverhaal over kolonialisme en strenge marihuanawetten, viel ook in de prijzen. Becoming Male in the Middle Ages van Pedro Neves Marques werd tevens door IFFR genomineerd in de categorie korte film van de European Film Awards (EFA).

Juryleden: Tim Leyendekker, Nduka Mntambo, Rieke Vos

Juryrapport Becoming Male in the Middle Ages:

“A film that stands out for its beautiful cinematography, its well-crafted characters and remarkably crisp dialogues. It introduces a conversation on gender, sex and the choice of reproduction that is both timely, controversial and thought-provoking. A film that is an excellent collision between classical narrative cinema and fine arts.”

Juryrapport Nazarbazi:

“An exceptionally skillful film, through the way it translates rigorous research into a convincing dramaturgical experience. The filmmaker managed to capture an argument into a piece of poetry – a seamless collage crafted with directorial intelligence and a seemingly effortless fluidity in both text and image. A film that seductively interrogates responses to censorship and suppression.”

Juryrapport Nosferasta:

“A film that bends our discursive awareness and challenges our analysis with regards to western colonial history, in a way that is original, humorous and inventive. The deliberate political intentions of the filmmakers result in a conceptual agility that is joyful, disrupting, generous and attractive. A film that is both an indictment and a comedy.”

VriendenLoterij Publieksprijs

Freaks Out van Gabriele Mainetti won de VriendenLoterij Publieksprijs 2022. Na afloop van de online vertoningen op IFFR.com, werden de kijkers die een ticket hebben gekocht gevraagd om de film te beoordelen. De VriendenLoterij Publieksprijs ter waarde van €10.000 wordt toegekend aan de film die de hoogste gemiddelde beoordeling heeft gekregen in dit publieksonderzoek tijdens het festival.

Freaks Out: Vier excentriekelingen met bovennatuurlijke gaves moeten vluchten voor het oprukkende nazisme, in deze avontuurlijke mix van fantasy- en oorlogsfilm. Naast de prachtige decors en het sierlijke camerawerk valt vooral de ontroerende hoofdrol van Aurora Giovinazzo op.

FIPRESCI Award

Een jury van internationale filmjournalisten van de Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique kende de FIPRESCI Award toe aan To Love Again van Gao Linyang.

Juryleden: Andrea Crozzoli, Diego Faraone, Ronald Glasbergen, Ana Sturm, Mikhael Essam Zakarea

Juryrapport: "To Love Again, debut fiction feature by Gao Linyang, is a tender and poignant observation of two deeply wounded souls, a portrait of a generation haunted by the traumas of the past and a delightful, bittersweet slice of life from the everyday of an elderly couple in contemporary China. With mature and sensible direction, Linyang realistically captures the pain that some still feel today due to misfortunes experienced in the recent past. His precise script skilfully mediates between humour and sadness, love and loss, life and death, patiently waiting for a glimpse of fragile hope, for a chance to love – and to be loved – again.”

KNF Award

De juryleden van de Kring van Nederlandse Filmjournalisten reikten de KNF award uit aan Punctured Sky van Jon Rafman.  

Juryleden: Fritz de Jong, Joyce Roodnat, Clementine van Wijngaarde

Juryrapport: “A well-informed, precise and playful depiction of a gamified world. Punctured Sky invites us to play along with Jon Rafman’s entertaining reconstruction of perceived memories of adolescence. The jury is delighted to be unanimous in their decision.”