ZFF for Kids – Jury Prize: LE LOUP ET LE LION
The French director Gilles de Maistre’s LE LOUP ET LE LION (France, Canada, 2021) convinced the Kids Jury comprising 30 members and won the Mini Golden Eye. The adventure film tells of a young woman and her friendships with animals. The award was presented by the following three jury members: Loris Lätsch, Sophie Treiber and Penthesilea Falkenberg.ZFF for Kids – Audience Award:
This award will be announced in the course of the Award Night Saturday evening.
Audience Award: YOUTH TOPIA
The ZFF audience also represents an important jury: They vote for their favourite film from all the competition entries – this year’s choice is YOUTH TOPIA (Switzerland, Germany, 2021) by Dennis Stormer. The satire portrays the struggle between youthful wildness and a growing sense of duty in a society where an algorithm determines when people grow up. Present were the actresses Lia von Blarer and Elsa Langnäse, as well as Marisa Meier, Katrin Renz and Stefan Jäger from the production side.
Zurich Churches Film Prize: LA MIF / THE FAM
The West Swiss drama LA MIF (Switzerland, 2021) by Fred Baillif, which also won the Focus Competition, already won the Ecumenical Film Prize of the Zurich Churches on Thursday, September 30. Baillif tells of a home where girls from precarious backgrounds experience a new form of community.
“The film gives visibility to women who are otherwise not seen. It highlights with an urgent voice the importance of such institutions for our society. In them, young people find a safe space despite all adversities and traumatic experiences,” summed up jury president and film lecturer Lucie Bader.
Science Film Award: ALL LIGHT, EVERYWHERE
The Science Film Award presented by the Eye On Science Association went in the form of a statue and certificate to the American filmmaker Theo Anthony for ALL LIGHT, EVERYWHERE (USA, 2021). The documentary film tells of a time in which surveillance technologies increasingly determine our lives.
The jury gave the following reason for its choice: “ALL LIGHT, EVERYWHERE receives the Science Film Award for the poetic and self-reflective exploration of surveillance technologies, data science, justice, truth and ultimately objectivity. Through a highly original approach, the film investigates the role of images and videos in our daily lives and encourages the audience to reflect on scientific evidence – especially if perceived through a camera lense. In that sense, the film ultimately also consciously questions itself without making any claim to absolute objectivity.”
Emerging Swiss Talent Award (Critics’ Award): AZOR
The prize of the Critics’ Jury (Guy Lodge, E. Nina Rothe, Max Borg) for a Swiss debut work goes to the finance thriller AZOR (Switzerland, France, Argentina, 2021) by the Geneva-born filmmaker Andreas Fontana.
The jury chose the film, which tells of a Swiss private banker in 80s Argentina, “because of its self-conscious restraint, its detailed and authentic evocation of a particular place and time, its elegant subversion of genre conventions and its fusion of Swiss cinema with a truly global sensibility”.
Best International Film Music: Andrey Mordovsky
At the 9th International Film Music Competition, which took place on September 30 at the Tonhalle Zurich, the young Russian composer Andrey Mordovsky accepted the Golden Eye endowed with a 10’000 Swiss franc cash prize for “Best International Film Music” for his scoring of the short film ETIQUETA NEGRA by David Vergés.
The jury (presided over by Academy Award and ZFF Career Achievement Award-winner Mychael Danna) praised Mordovsky’s film music as “bold and audacious, eccentric and full of irony, like the portrayed film itself. The score is skilfully orchestrated with interesting colours and ultimately manages to create a world that mirrors the film in almost every respect.” |
