The 58th Viennale (22 October-1 November) ended on Sunday by showing the closing movie, The Truffle Hunters [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Gregory Kershaw e Michael …
scheda film] by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw. The festival was overshadowed, like so many other cultural events this year, by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. With new restrictions and lockdowns taking effect as of this week in Austria, the Viennale was fortunate enough to be able to offer an uninterrupted physical presence in the movie theatres. A total of 420,000 visitors attended 320 screenings in ten cinemas over the course of 11 days.

One of this year’s highlights was the monograph dedicated to German filmmaker and artist Christoph Schlingensief, who passed away ten years ago this summer. With a film industry looking to its national roots in these dire times for releases, the Austrian film scene was honoured in the special “Austrian Auteurs” programme.

Going hand in hand with this sentiment, the Diagonale, the festival for Austrian film and the first victim of the March wave of cancellations, had the opportunity to finally showcase some of its selection on the big screen. Furthermore, the “Recycled Cinema” retrospective, a curated batch of found-footage movies, was screened in collaboration with the Film Museum.

As in previous years, international and local juries awarded the Vienna Film Award, Viennale Award of the Der Standard Reader Jury, FIPRESCI Prize and Erste Bank MehrWERT Award to eligible fiction features and documentaries.

The Vienna Film Award, donated by the city of Vienna, goes to a current Austrian feature that had its premiere over the course of the last year. The jury selected Epicentro [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Sandra Wollner
scheda film], a film about a young robot girl designed to please its owners, which breaks several taboos.

The Viennale Award of the Der Standard Reader Jury goes to a movie that does not yet have a distributor and for which a release is recommended. The jury chose Tragic Jungle [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Yulene Olaizola, which reinterprets an ancient Mayan legend from Yucatán as the story of an escaped female slave in the 1920s. As male workers stationed in the jungle lust after her, this awakens a mythical demon.

The FIPRESCI Prize is intended for a movie chosen from among a selection of first and second features. This year, the jury awarded Kill It and Leave This Town [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mariusz Wilczyński
scheda film] by Mariusz Wilczyński. In the animated feature, which took ten years to make, the filmmaker works through the death of his parents and best friend, and examines childhood memories and the development of Polish society.

The Erste Bank MehrWERT Award is granted by sponsor Erste Bank to Austrian productions curated by the Viennale. This year’s award went to Zaho Zay [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Maéva Ranaïvojaona and Georg Tiller. The hybrid work incorporating both documentary and fantastical elements follows a woman in a Madagascan prison who is awaiting the arrival of her father, a criminal. The Erste Bank MehrWERT Recognition Award went to Please Hold the Line [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Pavel Cuzuioc, who followed telecommunication technicians during their visits to households in cities and villages, and even homes in neighbouring countries.

Here is the full list of Viennale 2020 award winners:

Vienna Film Award for Best Austrian Movie
Epicentro [+leggi anche:
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Special Award of the Jury
The Trouble with Being Born [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Sandra Wollner
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Viennale Award of the Der Standard Reader Jury
Tragic Jungle [+leggi anche:
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FIPRESCI Award
Kill It and Leave This Town [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mariusz Wilczyński
scheda film] - Mariusz Wilczyński (Poland)

Erste Bank MehrWERT

Erste Bank MehrWERT Award
Zaho Zay [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Georg Tiller and Maéva Ranaïvojaona (Austria/France/Madagascar)

Erste Bank MehrWERT Recognition Award
Please Hold the Line [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Pavel Cuzuioc (Austria)