- Two international juries have presented 5 awards.
- The victorious film can be seen tomorrow, November 13th, at 20:30 at Světozor cinema.
- The Audience Award will be presented at the closing ceremony of the festival in Brno on November 22nd.
The international jury has chosen the best film out of the ten exceptional films which participated in the Best Feature Film competition at the 15th edition of Mezipatra Queer Film Festival. The winner of this year's Mezipatra is an unusual romance from Sweden, Something Must Break (Nånting måste gå sönder) by the director Ester Martin Bergsmark. The prize, a crystal dagger by Dechem design studio, has been received tonight at the closing closing ceremony at Lucerna theatre by the the scriptwriter and activist, Eli Levén, whose novel the film was based on.
“The international jury is proud to present our grand prize to Something Must Break for its authentic resistance to mainstream love. For its use of original characters and their stunning and beautiful perspective, which we are rarely, if ever, able to experience in cinema, and using a love that transcends boundaries,” says the jury consisting of Bill Guentzler (Artistic Director of Cleveland International Film Festival), Peter Knegt (Variety and Indiewire journalist, filmmaker), and Pavla Jonssonová (musician, university lecturer specializing in gender).
The main prize of Mezipatra thus stands alongside the main prize of Tiger Award from Rotterdam festival which was another great success of Bergsmark's film. The director was already awarded at Mezipatra two years ago when his She Male Snails received the Special Mention of the Jury. Something Must Break, a film about an androgynous boy who dreams of being a girl and meets the seductive punk Andreas, can be seen once more. The screening of the winning film will start on Thursday at 20:30 at Světozor cinema.
However, the jury has awarded the Special Mention as well, appreciating a Brazilian romantic drama, The Way He Looks (Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho), directed by Daniel Ribeiro. “Special award for optimism to The Way He Looks for giving us a new window into the vision of love and hope in regard to the idea of 'till death do us part,'” explained the jury. The film, which received Teddy Award at Berlinale and which is Brazil's candidate for the Academy Award, was screened at Mezipatra also with Czech audio-description for the visually impaired.
The international student jury awarded the best short films. The main prize was given to Korean Ordinary Family (Vacance) by Hyun-Ju Lee, for “tasteful mixture of humour and drama, admirable work of actors and high quality of cinematographic execution.” The films receiving special mention are Aban &Khorshid (dir. Darwin Serink) and YOLO (Lækre til vi dør, dir. Marie Grahtø Sørensen). Mezipatra has presented 48 short films from 21 countries.
The Prague part of the festival, which started on November 6th, welcomed thousands of visitors. Many screenings were completely sold out (Me, Myself and Mom, and Children 404), the festival also welcomed guests from all over the world. Children 404 were accompanied by the film's directors, Askold Kurov and Pavel Loparev, Of Girls and Horses was personally introduced by the director Monika Treut. Moreover, Mezipatra was spiced up by debates and parties. Apart from screenings for the public, there were also school screenings focusing on bullying and HIV prevention. The films were followed by discussions with professionals. The screenings were visited by 400 children and were met with great enthusiasm.
The 15th edition of Mezipatra is now moving to Brno where it will take place from November 15th to 22nd. The final attendance and the winner of the Audience Prize will be disclosed after the end of the festival in Brno.
You can see the winner of Mezipatra, Something Must Break, in Brno on Wednesday, November 19th, at 18:00 in Art cinema. The Way He Looks, awarded with the Special Mention, will open the festival in Brno, so go see the screening on Saturday, November 15th, at 20:00 in Scala cinema. The screening for not only the visually impaired will take place on November 21st from 18:00 in Art cinema. You can see the awarded short films in special blocks: Ordinary Family is scheduled for November 18th at 17:45 at Art cinema, Aban & Khorshid for November 17th from 20:15 and November 21st from 20:15 at Art cinema. YOLO is a part of the block which will start on November 16th at 17:45 and November 22nd at 17:45 in Art cinema.
Contact:
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www.mezipatra.cz
All the photographs including the photos of the awards from Dechem studio are available at:
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