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The 14th International Festival
Signes de Nuit
in Berlin
Germany
January 18 - 24, 2016
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AWARD CELEBRATION
Short Film Competition
Sunday 24, January / 8 pm
ACUDkino
Berlin, Germany
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Main Award :
Till Day's End
Amitai Ashkenasi |
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Till Day's End
Amitai Ashkenasi
Israel
2014 / 0:19:00
Seventeen-year-old Elay is working with his brother at the fishponds of the kibbutz. After he gets saved from thieves by an Arab kid from the village, he tells a lie that will come back to haunt him
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Jury Statement :
Visual metaphor about guilt and atonement in the context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict that convinces through impressive cinematography and successful portrayal
of its characters. |
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Main Award :
Special Mention
I'm a Spy
Sarah Wood |
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Sarah Wood
Great Britain
2015 | 00:22:00
It was only in the twentieth century we needed papers to have an identity. Kafka’s Joseph K scrabbled in his pocket for something better than a bicycle license to prove who he was in the brave new world where official documents separate those who belong from those who are not allowed to belong. The borders of the new nation state offered frames for subterfuge. What happened on one side of the border had to be understood on the other. In the century when we invented aviation, when we invented cinema, in an age when we can move more and see more than any other point in history why have we become so watchful and so performative? I Am A Spy is a film that observes this watchfulness.
Extrait :
https://vimeo.com/140333778
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Jury Statement :
Sarah Wood, “I am spy” is a visual essay which combines personal memories with questioning concepts of identity and observation. Through the skillfull use of archival footage and excellent editing, Wood creates a fascinating rush of images nourished with associative moments. |
Director Statement :
Thank you so much for your recognition of I Am A Spy.It's a film about
the difference between observation and intervention in times of war.
It means so much to receive recognition for this project in Berlin - a
city whose history speaks the border war idiocy of Cold War politics
and the grim reality of state control through surveillance. I hope for
my part I Am A Spy offers resistance to the increasing return of this
kind of politics across Europe.Thank you for this honour. |
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Signs Award :
Most of Us don't Live There
Laura Marie Wayn |
| The Signs Award is attributed to films treating an important subject
in an original, convincing and surprising way. |
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Most of Us don't Live There
Laura Marie Wayne
Canada, Cuba
2015 | 0:25:00
Most of Us Don’t Live There is a memoir, both visually stunning and heartbreakingly sincere; a young woman wanders the landscapes of her childhood and explores a life coloured by bipolar depression. Set in the powerful Canadian Rockies, the film draws a link between nature and the human mind and calls for a re-visioning of what we understand as mental illness.
Extrait :
http://www.lauramariefilms.com
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Jury Statement :
Laura Marie Wayne’s “Most of Us don’t Live There” is a genuine and impressive portrayal of her life with depression that combines childhood memories with bold im- ages of nature. This honest and touching self- mportrait allows the spectator a rare and deep insight into her personal world. |
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Night Award :
2183 Days
Natasha De Betak |
| The Night Award honors films, which are able to balance ambiguity and
complexity characterized by enigmatic mysteriousness and subtleness,
which keeps mind and consideration moving. |
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2183 Days
Natasha De Betak
India
2015 | 0:25:15
Rare and unique cinematic observation by artist and award winning filmmaker Natasha De Betak; She has been filming a Holy man Nagnath Baba since last five years who has been on a hunger strike to save the sacred river Ganga. Year after year, his body crumbles. He is haunted by both dreams and nightmares. His sacred existence takes surreal shape. Life continues to flow around his body; temple, prayers, rituals… Then one day his hunger strike reaches climax and he dies. Expressionism and poetry meet to create a sublime journey of an unusual soul.
Extrait :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nw7LoXIobk
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Jury statement :
This film portrays the story of Nagnath Baba, who sacrifices his life for the holy river Ganga, with haunting and unsettling images. “2183 Days” captivates the spectators, sending them into a vortex of rituals, mysticism and absolute dedication. |
Director Statement :
"I am thrilled to receive The Night Award for 2183 Days from a
courageous festival........ thank you so so much to the jury.... and
let you know i am a night person and the film was mostly shot in the
night.
It was a very painfull film to make as this Baba was my friend.
I have spent several nights, over several years in Varanasi on the
burning Ghat in the Kali Temple where he lived , trying to find a way
to express the decay of a body and soul of this man who was on hunger
strike to save the Ganga river, knowing it was a lost cause.
Today , he is gone but is spirit lives in 2183 days.
thank you again and again. |
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Night Award :
Special Mention
Aokigahara
Joaquin Manuel Ramos Carvallo
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| The Night Award honors films, which are able to balance ambiguity and
complexity characterized by enigmatic mysteriousness and subtleness,
which keeps mind and consideration moving. |
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Aokigahara
Joaquin Manuel Ramos Carvallo
Spain
2015 / 0:09:00
Suicide in Japan: between normality and enigma, poetry und cruelty.
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Jury Statement :
Modern fairy tale that tells the story about love and death in a charming and whimsi- cal way. |
Director Statement :
Thank you very much for the special recognition of my work , it is a
great honor for me. It is not easy to write a script about a sensitive
issue such as suicide. I decided to treat it in a more poetic and less
dramatic way with a mystical open-end, and respecting the thousands of
people who have decided to end their journey there. |
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Edward Snowden Award :
Symbolic Threats
Matthias Wermke, Lutz Henke,
Mischa Leinkauf |
| The Edward Snowden Award honors films, which offer sensible (mostly)
unknown informations, facts and phenomenons of eminent importance, for
which the festival wishes a wide proliferation in the future. |
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Symbolic Threats
Matthias Wermke, Lutz Henke, Mischa Leinkauf
Germany
2015 | 0:15:00
Poetry or threat? An act of surrender or perhaps art? These were the theories that New York puzzled over last summer. How can one incident be interpreted in so many ways? By means of press reports, Symbolic Threats allows the public at large to express their extreme disparity of interpretation. Inspired by the heated debate over the two „White American Flags“ that suddenly appeared on the towers of New York City’s iconic Brooklyn Bridge, the film asks what kind of societal scope art has in the present day. What happens when threatened freedom reinstates art with the element of danger? Who or what makes it into a threat? Are we safe in the city? What is next?
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Jury Statement :
Wermke, Henke und Leinkauf create a clever and unmasking play with the fear of the US-American society through this unique intervention in the public space. “Symbolic Threats” reveals the vulnerability of systems which through surveillance reduce their own liberal ideals to absurdity. |
Director Statement :
We are honored and thankful to receive this award!
Being recognized by your festival and awarded helps to move on with
our artistic practice! |
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