09/07/2018 - Other winners in main competition include Sueño Florianópolis, Redemption, Winter Flies, Jumpman, while Suleiman Mountain and Blossom Valley have dominated East of the West section

(l-r) Olmo Omerzu, Jiří Konečný, Ada Solomon and Radu Jude (© KVIFF)

At the 53rd edition of Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF), the Crystal Globe for Best Feature — including $25,000 — was awarded to Radu Jude’s "I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians" [+see also:
film review
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film profile] (Romania/Czech Republic/France/Bulgaria/Germany). The film is about a director trying to stage a public historical re-enactment about Romania’s involvement in the Holocaust. It is a modern, daring, and above all relevant film for the moral crisis Europe is going through today. 

The Special Jury Prize ($15,000) was awarded to Ana Katz’s Sueño Florianópolis [+see also:
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film profile] by Joseph Madmony and Boaz Yehonatan Yacov. The Best Director award went to Olmo Omerzu for Winter Flies [+see also:
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interview: Olmo Omerzu
film profile] (Czech Republic/Slovenia/Poland/Slovakia). There were two Special Jury Mentions, to Ivan I. Tverdovskiy’s Jumpman [+see also:
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interview: Ivan I Tverdovsky
film profile] (Russia/Latvia/Ireland/France/LT/IR/FR) and Sonja Prosenc’s History of Love [+see also:
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interview: Sonja Prosenc
film profile] (Slovenia/Italy/Norway). 

In the East of the West Competition, the Grand Prix ($15,000) was awarded to Suleiman Mountain [+see also:
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interview: László Csuja
film profile] ($10,000). 

In the Documentary Competition, the Grand Prix for the best documentary film ($5,000) went to Vitaly Mansky’s Putin’s Witnesses [+see also:
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interview: Vitaly Mansky
film profile] (Latvia/Switzerland/Czech Republic). A Special Jury Prize was given out to Daniel Zimmermann’s Walden [+see also:
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film profile] (Switzerland/Austria). 

The Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema went to actor and director Tim Robbins. The same award was awarded to Oscar-winner Barry Levinson, whose Rain Man (1988) won this year’s Právo Audience Award. 

The Festival President’s Award went to Robert Pattinson, who starred in this year’s Damsel by David and Nathan Zellner, which also screened at the festival. Accepting the award, Pattinson remarked about the festival: ‘They help the films that don’t fit in the margins.’ The Festival President’s Award for Contribution to Czech Cinematography went to actor Jaromír Hanzlík. 

The non-statutory awards echoed the official winners. Katz’s Sueño Florianópolis took home the FIPRESCI Prize, while Redemption was awarded the Ecumenical Jury Award. The Ecumenical Jury also gave special mentions to Omerzu’s Winter Flies and Natalia Cabral and Oriol Estrada’s Miriam Lies [+see also:
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interview: Oriol Estrada, Dulce Rodríg…
film profile] (Dominican Republic/Spain). The FEDEORA Prize, focusing on the best film in the East of the West Competition, was handed to Suleiman Mountain. 

And the Europa Cinemas Label Award, which is given to the best European film in the Official Competition or East of the West section, also went to Jude’s film.

The Works in Progress section of the festival presented eleven projects from countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the former Soviet Union, and the Middle East. The one that was deemed best and was awarded the impressive sum of €100,000 — divided into €60,000 for post-production services at Prague’s UPP, €30,000 for Soundsquare, and a cash prize of  €10,000 from Barrandov Studio, was Ahmad Ghossein’s All This Victory [+see also:
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The Eurimages Lab Project Award, a cash prize of €50,000, went to Adele Tulli’s Normal [+see also:
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film profile] (Italy/Sweden) that was competing against seven other projects. KVIFF is the first of four international film festivals in Europe to be giving out this award to filmmakers that deploy non-traditional film methods.

The Docs in Progress cash prize of €5,000, meanwhile, was awarded to one of ten projects competing from the same territories as the Works in Progress section. The prize went to Yuriy Shylov’s Projectionist [+see also:
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interview: Yuriy Shylov
film profile] (Ukraine/Germany/Poland). A Special Mention was dedicated to the project Little Poland (Poland) by Matej Bobrik.

*Marija Jeremić's participation in GoCritic! is co-financed by Film Centre Serbia

This article was written as part of GoCritic! training programme.