Awards 2015

Award Winners at Minimalen 2015

Nordic Competition

Best Nordic Film: Trophy + 1.000 Euro from Minimalen

• XENOS by Mahdi Fleifel – Denmark, U.K., Greece

This film hits you right in the guts, both thematically and emotionally, by forcefully describing a very important topic. The director uses a rough yet intimate formal language to bring us up close to people living on the edge in Europe's backyard; a small community of male refugees who have made it to Greece, but lives in a limbo where both the hope of a better life and the memories of their home country are distant dreams. The film's point of view shows the vulnerability of the refugees' situation from within, and the use of footage from cell phone cameras and telephone conversations creates an intimacy that yields strong compassion and empathy for the characters in the film.

Best Nordic Animation or Art Film: Trophy

• A PAPER WORLD (PAPPERSVÄRLD) by Jöns Mellgren – Sweden

This film relates a strong and delicate recollection. The director has found a powerful expression for the cinematic journey between past and present. The technical and visual style of the animation brings to life the memories of a dramatic event that the main character cannot forget. The film creates a unique universe that is both tender and brutal, and that is able to brilliantly balance the narrative gravity with visual ingenuity. 

Best Nordic documentary: Trophy

• EMBRYO by Emma Thorsander – Sweden

This film approaches an important issue, quietly and forcefully. We hear five women tell us the stories of their abortions. Their reflections are honest and open, and it reminds us of all the individual lives that are touched by this choice. The film also circles around how things could have been different, and thus creates multiple ways of understanding the stories. The visual style is careful yet expressive, and gently emphasizes the existential dilemmas that are present in each and every one of the women's situations. 

Best Nordic Fiction Film: Trophy

• ALBUMS AND PHOTOGRAPHS (LEVYT JA VALOKUVAT) by Pia Andell – Finland

What does it mean to see' This formally accomplished film returns to this simple yet important question in a number of ways by challenging both our gaze as audience and the characters' view of themselves and their surroundings. The film is about a young woman who finds her identity through the lens of a camera her newly deceased grandfather left behind. The director begins with this simple starting point and weaves a visual portrait that allows the main character's development – and it's concretization though the camera – to create beautiful visual metaphors and to intertwine the bonds between three generations in a little family where many things have gone unsaid. The director manages to say something about what is inside by focusing on appearances, and proves herself as an impressive director of actors.  

Special Mention:

• ÁRTÚN by Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson – Iceland, Denmark

Brilliant young actors bring life and authenticity to this conventional coming of age story centered on 'the first kiss', with the director's sensibility adding a somber note to the harsh realities of adolescence. 

Jury for the Nordic and the Norwegian Competition: Juhani Alanen, Karsten Meinich and Cecilie Bjørnaraa.

International Panorama

Audience Award: 500 Euro from Minimalen

• SYMPHONY NO. 42 by Reka Bucsi – Hungary

FICC-jury: Agnieszka Zajac, Anil Kumar Jain and Renate Kroken.

FICC Award Don Quixote

• IT CAN PASS THROUGH THE WALL (TRECE SI PRIN PERETE) by Radu Jude – Romania

The jury chose this film because it utilizes, in great extent, the atmosphere of a confined space. Especially by the use of sound and the interaction between the main characters.

Special Mention:

• LA PART DE L’OMBRE by Olivier Smolders – Belgium, France

An amazing story about an extraordinary artist, who was forgotten for years.

• BOLES by Spela Cadez – Slovenia, Germany

An animated story that come to life through the incredible details of the characters.

Norwegian Competition

Jury for the Nordic and the Norwegian Competition: Juhani Alanen, Karsten Meinich and Cecilie Bjørnaraa.

Best Norwegian Film: 5.000 NOK from Minimalen

• THE LITTLE DEATH (DEN LILLE DØDEN) by Simon Tillaas

There is something mysterious about mankind's rites of passage. The journey from being a child to becoming an adult is part of the necessity of life, and countless coming of age films have strived to describe this phase of human existence. The award for best Norwegian short film goes to a coming-of-age narrative that convincingly shows us a young girl's perplexed and confused introduction to the adult world. The narrative is centered on a father-daughter drama that becomes the starting point for a larger cinematic universe where the protagonist's experiences are conveyed through brilliant use of location, imagery that is created consistently and coherently, and an expressive use of sound design. The girl's journey draws us in close as we are rocking with the Ferry's cabins and corridors, all in keeping with an ideal of precision and restraint that characterizes the filmic short. The film introduces a number of new and talented filmmakers in every step of the production, and is indeed a sign of a promising future for Norwegian filmmaking. 

Special Mention:

• THE NATIONAL DAY - A SMALL FILM ABOUT A BIG DAY (NASJONALDAGEN - EN LITEN FILM OM EN STOR DAG) by Maida Hals

This film's unfiltered and unpretentious portrait of a primary school class from the little village Akkarfjord filled us with joy and energy. The director manages to successfully convey the children's sparkling personalities, and the film enables interesting reflections about what it means to be Norwegian.

 

Best Prerunner: Prerunner to be screened at Trondheim Kino for one month, chosen by Trondheim Kino.

Special Mention:

• ALL IN by Line Klungseth Johansen and Øystein Moe

Best Prerunner:

• THE BRIGHT SIDE by Thomas Lind

One-minute-film Competitions 

One-minute-films YOUNG: Awdience Award, 3.000 NOK from Midtnorsk Filmsenter

• HALLUSINASJON by Ole Henry Snildalsli, Madeleine Bunæs, Ida Marie Eidem and Nathalie Schjerve Rønning

One-minute-films: Awdience Award, Den Gyldne Saks

• VELKOMMEN HJEM BROR by Finn Walther

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