AWARDS 2023

AWARDS 2023

IDA – International Documentary Award

Curators: Marie-Christine Hartig, Martin Lintner, Marieluise Röttger

Jury:
Peter Drössler (Producer, dok.at)
Susana Ojeda (Filmmaker, Anthropologist, AT/CO)
Joana Scrinzi (Editor, AT)

Prize Money: € 1.000.-

Price donated by: Central European University (CEU)

Winner 2023

ALL OF OUR HEARTBEATS ARE CONNECTED THROUGH EXPLODING STARS by Jennifer Rainsford

JURY: “An inspiring encounter of human beings overcoming natural disasters with non-human beings inhabiting the ocean surfaces that process microplastics and the ocean as an ancestral being that sustains our life. This film allows us a hopeful reflection in a time when the Western world seems to succumb to a catastrophic view of the future.

Safely relying on the power of her narrative, Jennifer Rainsford tells us a story full of surprising moments and with great visual strength. Her perspective is at the same time intrinsic and global, shimmering between different views from insights of modern science, non-western knowledge and personal emotions. The director allows her cinematic images time to unfold their magic, as the story is told through associative editing accompanied by a tender score, releasing us into a poetic world that lasts for days after leaving the cinema.”

Honorable Mention

5 DREAMERS AND A HORSE by Vahagn Khachatryan and Aren Malakyan

JURY: “This film is a nod to those of us who, from the margins, dream as a survival technique, and is perhaps an invitation for others to create new ways of dreaming. With deep empathy for their protagonists Vahagn Khachatryan and Aren Malakyan give us insight into a country in transformation. Set in confined spaces such as an elevator or a rooftop, we experience a sense of living in restrictive systems and at the same time – while sharing time with the protagonists – we are invited to imagine the potential of a different world.”

Nominees

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EVA – Excellence in Visual Anthropology Award

Curators: Hannah Hauptmann, Sophie Wagner

Jury:
Nadja Haumberger (Curator, AT)
Oksana Sarkisova (Anthropologist, CEU Vienna)
Tom Waibel (Austrian Film Museum)

Prize Money: € 1.000.-

Price donated by: Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie

Winner 2023

MAMÁ by Xun Sero

JURY: “We chose this sensitive film for its genuine and authentic approach to a personal story. The main protagonist was given ample space to recount her silenced past. The camera enables Hilda Rodriguez to elaborate her narrative in ongoing interaction with the filmmaker.  The intimate setting allows viewers to experience immediacy, relationality, and leaves space for unanswered questions. This openness enables the film to broaden its angle to women’s perspectives in a male-dominated society. The film is a testimony to the conflicted past but is also a future-oriented endeavor which longs for empowering and engaging the viewers.” 

Honorable Mention

TERRA IN VISTA by Giulia Angrisani and Mattia Petullà

JURY: “The EVA Special mention goes to a film with a visually powerful cinematography which zooms in on the protagonists who chose to challenge a conventional lifestyle by following their pursuit of independence from social expectations. Through the filmmakers’ close engagement, we discover spaces of freedom in a world of highly repressive and exploitative labor relations. The collaborative, co-creative nature of the film allows the protagonists to express their most intimate longings and desires.”   

Nominees

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ADA – Austrian Documentary Award

Curators: Marie-Christine Hartig, Martin Lintner

Jury:
Ana De Almeida (Artist, AT/PT)
Anna Prischl (Cultural worker, costume designer, AT)
Paul Schwind (Filmmaker, ADA)

Prize Money: € 1.000.-

Prize donated by: Verwertungsgesellschaft der Filmschaffenden

Winner 2023

CLOUDY MEMORES by Isabella Friedl

JURY: “For the ability to reflect on wider themes of intergenerational conflict, womanhood, tradition, and the circle of life from the intimacy of one’s own family story… For putting her film directing and editing skills as well as her tender gaze in service of telling a story about three generations of women, while revealing the characters’ complex relationships, their flaws and dreams – by exposing seemingly contradicting qualities that not only deepen our understanding of them but reveal their profound humanity…. For presenting a well-rounded film which is at the same time touching, funny and sad, and for reminding us in this way of how family bonds are as powerful as they are complex… the Austrian Documentary Award goes to CLOUDY MEMORIES by Isabella Friedl. Congratulations!”

Nominees

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ISA – International Shorts Award

Curators: Rocío Burchard, Lisa Heuschober

AUDIENCE AWARD
The Audience votes for the winner at the screenings of the short film programmes ISA I & ISA II. The winning film will be screened at the  Award Ceremony on May 9.

Prize Money: € 500.-

Prize donated by:Verwertungsgesellschaft für audio-visuelle Medien

Winner 2023

GAME OVER by Saeed Mayahy and Miriam Carlsen 

Nominees

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ESSA – Ethnocineca Student Shorts Award

Curators: Nóra Soponyai, Simone Traunmüller

AUDIENCE AWARD
The Audience votes for the winner at the screenings of the short film programmes ESSA I & ESSA II. The winning film will be screened at the  Award Ceremony on May 9.

Prize Money: € 500.-

Prize donated by: Basisgruppe Theater-, Film- und Medienwissenschaft

Winner 2023

HEUTE MIT ZUCKER UND MORGEN WEISS ICH NOCH NICHT by Annaka Minsch and Léon Melchior Hüsler

Nominees