BALKANIMA 2022 AWARDS
The jury for the main competition program, consisting of Paola Orlić (Croatia), Ivana Kvesić (Switzerland) and Rastko Ćirić (Serbia), made the following decisions:
The Grand Prix for the best film of the festival went to the film "Salute to the Sun" by Darko Masnec from Croatia.
Explanation of the jury:
"A film whose theme is the universal search for love, attention and touch rests on an unusually subtle and extremely suggestively elaborated autonomous visual expression that is brilliantly accompanied by compatible music and sound effects in the middle of an undefined cosmos in which its "beings" touch each other and want to pervade and feel beyond abstraction."
The award for the best Serbian film went to the film "Money and Happiness" by Ana Nedeljković and Nikola Majdak.
Explanation of the jury:
"For a great black-humored critique of the "new corporate order" and enslavement to the peculiar society of Hamsterland, whose premises of 100% employment and "stable economy" with a permanently growing GDP are based on the definition of their overly constructed, self-deceptive happiness of "accumulation" and belief in the "sanctity" of exponential capital growth despite the all-consuming blackness of financial slavery, which cuts off the contours of freedom while ultimately questioning happiness and money as disparate concepts."
A special mention went to the film "Lucky Man" by Claude Luyet from Switzerland.
Explanation of the jury:
"A witty film with unusual twists that tells us that it is not advisable to always support the classical laws of the so-called narrative style in which the most important thing is to get "from point A to point B", that is, to the goal by saving yourself "at the last moment". Although this latter goal may offer us the illusion of short-term salvation, the endings in this storytelling are "in spades", so it is questionable whether "achievement" is what we should be rooting for and what we should hope for, if we could somehow escape the "undertaker from the shovel" literally and metaphorically."
The jury for the student competition program, consisting of Ivana Bošnjak (Croatia), Mina Cvetinović Pavkov (Serbia) and Miloš Tomić (Serbia), made the following decisions:
The award for the best student film of the festival went to the film "In His Mercy" by Christoph Büttner from Germany.
Explanation of the jury:
"It is a real pleasure to see that a young author during his studies can handle the cinematic and visual language so well that he managed to express the deepest emotions of the convict who is preparing for his own execution."
A special mention went to the film "Goodbye Jerome!" by Gabrielle Selnet, Adam Sillard and Chloé Farr from France.
Explanation of the jury:
"Because of the irresistible charm, with which it leads us, the viewers, through its vision of paradise, introduces us to unforgettable characters and subtly targets the range of emotions: melancholy, despair, excitement, the lightness of a new beginning - the feeling of freedom."
A special mention went to the film "Wet" by Marianne Bergeonneau, Lauriane Montpert, Mélina Mandon, Cloé Peyrebrune and Elvira Taussac from France.
Explanation of the jury:
"For a film in which we float through strange labyrinths of shapes and touches, and become part of a loving and wet game."
The five-member jury, participants of the Studio for Animated Film at the Children's Cultural Center Belgrade, consisting of: Jana Vukčević (14 years old), Senka Lazarevski (14 years old), Lana Jovanović (13 years old), Filip Seničar (14 years old) and Veljko Obradović (13 years old) watched a selection of films for children as a part of the children's competition program of the Balkanima 2022. The jury unanimously decided that the award goes to the film "Spuffies" by Jaka Ivanc from Slovenia.
Explanation of the jury:
"The film “Spuffies” is extremely interesting. It was made in 3D technique. The story is cheerful and happy in bright colors. The heroes are united in their efforts to get to their favorite food. Although sometimes it seems that hunger is on the horizon, in the end a solution is found for those who are starving."
