24/10/2016 - Renārs Vimba’s film took home the Grand Prix from the Luxembourg-based festival, while the Special Jury Prize went to Attila Till’s Kills On Wheels

Mirjana Karanović awarding the Grand Prix to Mellow Mud (© Margo Skwara)

Mellow Mud [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elina Vaska
interview: Renars Vimba
film profile] by Latvian director Renārs Vimba has been crowned with the Grand Prix at the ninth CinÉast – Luxembourg’s Central and Eastern European Film Festival, which came to an end yesterday. According to the jury, Mellow Mud is “a well-structured and well-developed story, both sensual and subtle, about a young woman coming into her own in a country also coming into its own. Though it touches on dark themes such as corruption, forbidden relationships, generational conflict and family responsibilities, the film has a lightness of touch throughout. Through his use of the camera and a reliance on visuals over dialogue, the director shows a surprising maturity, and lead actress Elina Vaska is an exciting discovery.”

The Special Jury Prize went to Kills On Wheels [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Hungarian director Attila Till, as it is, in the jury’s words, “a surprising combination of genres, a fusion of drama, crime story, action and comic film that subverts expectations and stereotypes”. 

Other awards at the festival included the Critics' Prize, awarded by a separate Press Jury, which was given unanimously to the Polish film 11 Minutes [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Jerzy Skolimowski
film profile] by Jerzy Skolimowski. The Audience Award went to Planet Single [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Slovenian director Mitja Okorn.

The awards ceremony was followed by the screening of the film A Good Wife [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], directed by this year’s jury chair, Mirjana Karanović.

Here is the full list of winners:

Grand Prix
Mellow Mud [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elina Vaska
interview: Renars Vimba
film profile] – Renārs Vimba

Special Jury Prize
Kills On Wheels [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Attila Till

Critics’ Prize
11 Minutes [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Jerzy Skolimowski
film profile] – Jerzy Skolimowski

Audience Award
Planet Single [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Mitja Okorn

Audience Award for Best Short Film (Fiction)
Romantik – Mateusz Rakowicz

Audience Award for Best Short Film (Animation)
Happy End – Jan Saska

Audience Award for Best Short Film (Documentary)
Education – Emi Buchwald