Death by Suffocation wins grand prize at Fresh Film Fest
The 7th Fresh Film Festival concluded August 29 with the grand prize in the international competition of student films and documentaries going to the German short film Death by Suffocation, about a pair of struggling immigrants in Germany.
The jury of Danish director Christoffer Boe, Czech actor Martha Issova and British filmmaker Daniel Mulloy called the film by Kosovo-born director Visar Morina “a perfectly composed existential drama that turns into a thriller, grown from a very convincing seed that kept its audience on the edge of their seats.”
Special Mention in the main competition of 13 titles went to Muscles (Edward Housden, Australia), “a visually beautiful study of a young boy‘s world set in an immensely fascinating milieu.”
The Fresh Generation Award in the international competition of first and second films was given to The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle by US director David Russo. The jury of Czech filmmaker Michaela Pavlátová, Hungarian director Attila Gigor and German producer Christine Haupt described it as “a fresh, challenging, visually innovative, depressingly funny film about life, death and stuff”.
Paul Cabon’s Savage (France) won the Theatre Optique competition of animated and experimental student films, with special mention in the selection going to Who Would Have Thought? by Ewa Borysewicz of Poland.
Rozálie Kohoutová won the Fresh Czech Award with her piece Roma Boys – Love Story, about gay love among the Roma minority. The Audience Award went to the sci-fi film 1 by Hungarian director Pater Sparrow.
The 7th Fresh Film Fest was held for the first time in Prague after six years in Karlovy Vary and included workshops and meetings for film school directors and industry professionals.
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