Ladies and gentleman, the festival is over. The winners have been crowned and Elvis has left the building. This year has been a great one. Fantastic films, more people and just a great atmosphere. So without further ado, I present to you this years winners.
The Cage (Colivia) by Adrian Sitaru won the international prize for best film or the Uppsala Grand Prix as it’s known around the water coolers. Not only does Mr. Sitaru go home with the Uppsala Film Jackdaw award, he also leaves 25 000 Swedish kronor richer. The Cage is a great little film where a young boy finds a injured pigeon and wants to keep it but his father refuses. I never thought this would win, but after hearing the jury’s reason it all made sense.
“A beautifully simple and simply beautiful tale of a father’s love for his son, that is shrouded in musicality whilst never leaving the confines of the characters’ apartment. With a perfectly judged pace and tone this is short film making at its finest.”
The people have also spoken. The Cage was crowned by a jury but then we have the peoples vote. And as I consider myself more of a man of the people than a man of the jury (wow, that was very John Grisham of me) I found this result more interesting. The winner of the Audience Award for best international film was Tussilago. When I heard that I gave myself a mental high-five. I was worried that my predictions in my previous post would crumble like a house of cards but when Tussilago by Jonas Odell was called out it was all good.
On the Swedish front the winner for best film was Not Panic (Ingen Panik) by Elisabeth Marjanovic’ Cronvall. Once again, a film I really enjoyed but thought nothing else to it. However after seeing it again I really understood what the jury meant with their motivation:
“We don’t know exactly what we are watching, and we like that. The future is wide open and uncertain, and you’re not to panic Head on, with all systems go and a strong sense for detail, the films portrays a group of young people on their way into the adult world where everything is possible; you can become an underwater-welder, a baker, drive a really huge excavator or become an actor. And the adults aren’t turned into clichés either.”
The Swedish Audience Award went to Miss Remarkable And Her Career (Fröken Märkvärdig och Karriären) by Joanna Rubin Dranger. This is an animated film that really got loved by a lot of people. Was it my favourite? No but it’s still a damn good film and I’m very happy for the director.
Do you want to read about more winners you can visit the Uppsala Short Film Festival homepage and there you can find other winners like who won for best children’s film, best cinematography or the new prestigious Ingmar Bergman award. All with motivations and information about the people behind the film.
I want to sincerely congratulate all the winners of the festival for their great films but I would also want to take the time and applaud all film makers that managed to get their films into the festival. I wish you all the luck in the future and hopefully I’ll see you next year when Uppsala Short Film Festival turns 30 years old. I’ll bring the cake!
Signing out from Uppsala.
