06/10/2009

The 17th Hamburg International Film Festival (September 24-October 3) closed on Saturday with the presentation of eight awards.

The C.I.C.A.E. (International Confederation of Arthouse Cinemas) Prize went to the event’s opening film, Fatih Akin’s Venetian award-winner Soul Kitchen [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. This distinction is worth €5,000, provided by the Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein regional fund, for the promotional campaign by the film’s German distributor, Pandora.

The jury described Soul Kitchen as "straightforward, passionate, humorous and uncompromising".

The Foreign Press Award went to Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu’s Police, Adjective [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Corneliu Porumboiu
film profile]. This title, selected in the Un Certain Regard section at the latest Cannes Film Festival, was praised for "its impressive, minimalist and genius directing, its excellent dialogue", its lead actor’s performance and its score.

The Montblanc Award for Best Screenplay, worth €10,000, was handed to Xiaolu Guo for her Chinese/European co-production She, a Chinese [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which scooped the Golden Leopard at this year’s Locarno Festival.

The Audience Award, for one of seven European blockbusters in the Eurovisuell section, went to French director Lucien Jean-Baptiste’s debut feature Meet the Elisabethz.

Other prize-winners include Sophie Barthes’ US film Cold Souls, which picked up the Hamburg Critics’ Prize.

Meanwhile, the “Die Elfe” Award for Best Young Talent (worth €5,000) was presented to German/Kurdish director Miraz Bezar for Before My Eyes (also lauded at San Sebastian).

Finally, the young jury at the 7th Michel Youth Film Festival (parallel event organised at Hamburg) chose Lisa Siwe’s Swedish film Glowing Stars [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile].

(Translated from French)