And the winners are...
The Friese-Award goes to the Russian Federation, the Mo-Award goes to Sweden
The 10th Mo&Friese Children's ShortFilmFestival, which takes place in the course of the International ShortFilmFestival Hamburg, has ended the 8th of June with its awards in the zeise cinema. The two winner-films, which were selected by the Mo-Jury and by the Friese-Jury, were shown as well as the winners of the "High Five!-Competition“.
Two prices has been awarded: the Friese-Award for the films of the programmes 4+ and 6+ and the Mo-Award for the films of the programmes 9+ and 12+. Both one are worth 1250 Euro. For the juries it was very hard to decide, because of the huge diversity of 53 shorts from 25 countries.
The Children's Jury has declared that "...Friese’s Children’s Jury chose ‚Great Travellers’ by Andrey Sudilovsky (Russian Federation 2006) for its realism, it was the only film that could happen like that in reality, it was emotionally good and fascinating. The actors were good and courageous. The film was exciting and full of twists and turns. ‚Great Travellers’ tells us about cooperation, friendship, fun; but also about feeling homesick and the anxiety of not coming back home.
The viewer was really able to get into the film, it was as if we were sleeping in that dark forest ourselves. The characters seemed to be extraordinarily real, fancy and creative. The score was adventurous and fit in naturally; sometimes you get scared when going through adventures, too. ‚Great Travellers’ was simply the best, the most original, including courageous actors, scary scenes and a happy ending.
The Mo-Award has gone to "The Last Things" by Levan Akin (Sweden 2007). "The winning film touched us deeply. Even before getting to know the title the film creates a suspenseful, mysterious and depressing atmosphere. With its very first pictures the film plays with the audience’s expectations and delivers a suprising turning point. Our favourite is a very well done short film which is artistically and emotionally convincing in dealing with loss, death, guilt, and mourning. The most important factors for our decision are the wonderful and talented actors and the intense pictures. The plot deals with the development of Hugo, the main character, who is tortured by feelings of guilt. When returning to the lake where his brother died he learns how to fight those feelings. This trip indicates the impressive highlight of the film when reality and fiction are being mixed up. The story is exciting, visionary and intense and we would love to see more of it!"
High five!
For the second time the festival has awarded prices, for shortfilms arranged by children about the topic "My Favorite Place".
1st place
For Mo and Friese’s ‚Give me 5!’ competition, both Juries agreed to crown ‚Eene, meene, Miste ...’ by Milena Glück as their winning film: "We think that the competition’s topic ‚one’s favourite place’, has been shown incomparably well and sensitively. We consider the idea of showing a dog’s favourite place to be entertaining, surprising and exciting. We would especially like to mention the film’s profoundly professional visuals and editing, both instantly drawing the viewer in. The camera does not only follow the dog and imitates its movements, but literally let’s us see the world through its eyes. Also, the film tells a whole story despite of being a short film. The Price is endowed with 300 Euro.
2nd place
As the second best film of Mo and Friese’s ‚Give me 5!’ competition we chose "Der Lieblingsplatz" by Jonathan Schaller (Germany 2008). His film inspired us due to its surprising wit, good score and exciting turns. We have perceived the film as being intense, suspenseful and manifold. Therefore, we would like to emphasize the skillful use of the genuine cinematic way of showing memories: In a furious looking-back-black-and-white-scene, the main actresses reflect their experiences with the older boys trying to occupy their favourite climbing tree. Besides, we liked how the girls dealt with the situation because we think this could encourage people to be more self-confident!
3rd place
As the third winner for Mo and Friese’s ‚Give me 5!’ competition we would like to elect "2050 – Schulausflug ins All’ by Leonie Stegmüller and the AG Multimedia Nördlingen. The film takes us on a journey to extraordinary places in outer space. According to the filmmakers, favourite places are to be found in one’s dreams. We, the jury, agreed that the directors managed to realize the topic in a laudably surprising, modern and visionary way. We find it worth mentioning that this fantasic journey is even framed by an own story. Also, we are fond of mentioning the film’s team effort and skills. ‚2050 – Schulausflug ins All’ is also ahead of its time regarding technical aspects: we really liked the drawings and also found the animation utterly creative.
All the young film makers came to the awards, inspite of traffic jams and heat waves. "The Competition suceeded by activating a lot of kids...", said festival’s director Agnes Nuber.
