10/11/2014 - Switzerland's biggest short-film festival reports a record attendance at its 18th edition (4-9 Nov)

The 18th International Short Film Festival Winterthur ended on Sunday night with American filmmaker Jennifer Reeder's A Million Miles Away winning the main prize worth CHF12,000 in the International Competition, which consisted of 37 films from 27 countries.

The jury, comprising Jonathan Pouthier, Michael Sennhauser, Joke Ballintijn, Yael Bartana and Monia Chokri, also gave the Promotional Award worth CHF10,000 to the Ugandan-US-Nigerian co-production Kuhani by Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine.

One of Switzerland's best-known filmmakers, Ursula Meier, received the Best Swiss Film Award and CHF10,000 for Tišina Mujo, a co-production with France and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and one of the 13 shorts that make up the omnibus The Bridges of Sarajevo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile].

A Special Mention went to the Winterthur-based Olga Titus for her experimental film o my.

The Swiss Cinematography Award worth CHF11,500 in kind from Nikon AG was given to Aurelio Buchwalder for his work on Wandelzeit – Eine Gletscherperformance, directed by Winterthur-based filmmaker Jan-Eric Mack.

In the Swiss Film School competition, the Best Film Award worth CHF5,000 went to the Geneva Haute Ecole d’art et de design (HEAD)'s Moïra Pitteloud for L’offre.

The Youth Jury bestowed the Youth Film Award (CHF500) upon Tastes Like Chicken? by Brazilian filmmaker Quico Meirelles.

The Shortrun Award, which was given to a film with the most promising script that runs out of competition, went to Samuel Morris for his project Doug & Walter. The in-kind prize comes with post-production services from [tweaklab] worth CHF12,000.

Off the Highway by Swiss newcomer Rhona Mühlebach won the Audience Award together with CHF10,000.

The festival reported 17,000 admissions sold over its six days, 500 more than in 2013. The 19th edition of the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur will take place from 3-8 November 2015.