A week of full house screenings, exciting professional programmes and friendly reunions came to a close on Wednesday with the award ceremony. The jury of the Hungarian competition were Sloveninan-Czech director Olmo Omerzu, singer-actress Bori Péterfy and director Gábor Reisz. The awards of the international competition were decided by Igor Prassel, artistic director of Animateka, producer Julianna Ugrin and director Fanni Szilágyi.

The prizes of the pitchforum were also handed out: out of ten short film projects, directors Balázs Lengyel and Bálint Szimler, film journalist Anita Libor and Tamás Liszka, director of Budapest Film, chose the awardees.  Anna Tőkés’ project The Last Drop received high praise from the jury, stating that “ All good animation films come from deep within and can reach great depths: with this project, we were able to witness how lines, colours, sounds and image sequences materialise from childhood feelings and how those emotions can reach our soul through film.” The jury of the Association of Hungarian Film Directors handed out a prize, courtesy of ARIZONA MPS, to Flóra Chilton and Bálint Tóth for their project Against the Wind: “Through their poignant choice of topic, artistic approach, flesh-and-bone characters and powerful presentation, they have convinced the jury that this award belongs to them.”

Réka Horváth at the pitch forum (Photo: Lili Chripko)

The main award of the Friss Hús Pitchforum named after the late young producer Nándor Lovas went to Réka Horváth for her project, Balagán. “Her flawless presentation displayed this high-concept film sensually and vividly. True to its comedy setup, the pitch was both humorous and of great quality, which is what Hungarian (short) film very much needs now.”

The audience also picked its favourites: Like a Haiku (by Mirtill Andella), won the Queer section’s audience award. Roman Hodel’s Das Spiel received the audience’s recognition in the international documentaries section while The Best Orchestra in the World (by Henning Backhaus) won the international competition’s audience award..

The award for the Best International Short Film went to The Criminals (by Serhat Karaaslan): the film, which also competed at Sundance, depicts the ill-fated rendez-vous of a young couple, holding up a cruel mirror to Turkish society. A special mention was given to Hide, Daniel Gray’s Canadian-Hungarian animation film and to MILA (by: Andreas Vakalios) which explores deep, hidden emotions between a father and his daughter.

Serhat Karaaslan: The Criminals

The award of the jury of the Association of Hungarian Film Directors, courtesy of Studio Spájz, was given to Making Mama So Proud (by Lili Laura Tóth) for the direction of its actors and for its well thought-out and dramatised visual storytelling. A special mention was given to Advent (by Mátyás Szabó) for its rare, peculiar sense of humour and for the excellent performance of Csongor Kassai; The X-Kryptonit Project (by Olivér Rudolf) was also praised by the jury for its exciting, playful merging of documentary and fiction genres and for the strong presence of the protagonist; the third special mention was handed to Password to the * * * * * (by Adél Szegedi) for its associative narrative and simple, clean representation.

The award for the Best Male Actor was shared by Dénes Ujlaki and Gergely Váradi for their performances in A Quiet Neighborhood (by Gábor Varga). The award for Best Actress went to Zsófia Bódi for her role in Some Goodies for Mama Klara (by Zsuzsi Konrád).

The Budapest Young Talent Award, sponsored by the Municipality of Budapest, was given to the best director under 30.  The award, worth 500.000 HUF and the sculpture that goes with it was handed over by Orsolya Kemény, representative of the Mayor’s office, to Dániel Botos, director of Something Must Happen. The “Budapest for young talents” program was created by the Municipality for young people with a creative vision and innovative thinking, acting as path leaders for future generations. The statue itself had also been sculpted in the spirit of a fresh and forward thinking direction, both in its material and its appearance, conveying a clean, independent and self-sufficing, yet safe environment, created by Alma Abonyi and Kinga Nyoszoli.

Réka Anna Szakály: Reduction

The Best Hungarian Short Animation Award went to Reduction by Réka Anna Szakály. The jury mentioned its distressing end-of-the-world mood told without words with an especially unique visual style. The award is worth 300.000 HUF.

Finally, the prize for the Best Hungarian Live Action Short Film was awarded to Land of Glory, directed by Borbála Nagy. The jury claimed that the film “portrays our present with a sophisticated, absurd sense of humour. Its film language is clean, giving space to great performances.” The award is worth 300.000 HUF.

Borbála Nagy: Land of Glory

While Friss Hús has ended, the short films can still be viewed: on Monday, June 7,  Land of Glory can be viewed in the courtyard of the Town Hall and on Tuesday, all award-winning films will be screened there. Tickets for these screenings can be purchased only on the website of TIXA. Starting June 11, this year’s Best of selection containing the award winners, as well as the Queer Dreams selection will be available on Cinego, for the duration of 14 days. The exhibition of the film posters will take place at the Town Hall park.