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The Zlín Film Fest crowns My Extraordinary Summer with Tess as Best Film

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- The longest-running film festival for children and youth has wrapped its 59th edition

The Zlín Film Fest crowns My Extraordinary Summer with Tess as Best Film
Director Steven Wouterlood and his lead actor Sonny Van Utteren with their Golden Slipper for Best Feature Film for Children, for My Extraordinary Summer with Tess

The Zlín Film Festival, also known as the International Film Festival for Children and Youth, has wrapped its 59th edition. The gathering screened a total of 280 films from 51 countries for children and young audiences. “We expect the total number of visitors over all nine days of the festival, including tomorrow’s programme, to be between 110,000 and 115,000 people, which is slightly lower than last year and may be attributable to this year’s bad weather,” said festival director Čestmír Vančura.

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Award-winning Dutch director Steven Wouterlood added one more accolade to his collection, as his latest effort, My Extraordinary Summer with Tess [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, won the festival’s top honour, the Golden Slipper for Best Feature Film for Children. However, Katja Benrath, who previously scooped Best Children’s Film at the 69th German Film Awards for Rocca Changes the World [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, pocketed four trophies at the closing ceremony, receiving two Special Recognitions and the Main Prize of the Children’s Jury for Best Feature Film for Children, along with the Golden Apple – The City of Zlín Audience Award for Best Feature Film. Meanwhile, Martin Lund’s drama about a school “weirdo” called Frida, Psychobitch [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, received the Main Prize of the Youth Jury for Best Feature Film for Youth as well as the Ecumenical Jury Award.

As is tradition, the Zlín Film Festival organised a public auction of clapperboards during the 22nd edition of the Salon of Film Clapperboards. A total of 123 clapperboards were sold for €102,000, €63,000 of which were earmarked to support 27 projects (eight animated, 12 fiction films, five documentaries, one series and one experimental film) by young domestic filmmakers, via the FILMTALENT Zlín Foundation.

The 60th edition of the Zlín Film Fest will take place from 29 May-6 June 2020.

Here is the full list of award winners:

Golden Slipper for Best Feature Film for Children
My Extraordinary Summer with Tess [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
– Steven Wouterlood (Netherlands/Germany)

Jury Prize for Best Child Performance in a Feature Film for Children
Finn Little – Storm Boy (Australia)

Golden Slipper for Best Feature Film for Youth
Giant Little Ones – Keith Behrman (Canada)

Jury Prize for Best Youth Performance in a Feature Film for Youth
Blake Cooper – Measure of a Man (USA)

Special Recognition
Rocca Changes the World [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 – Katja Benrath (Germany)

Golden Slipper for Best Animated Feature
Cloudy – Filip Diviak, Zuzana Čupová (Czech Republic)

Hermína Týrlová Award for Young Artists Aged Under 35
Teofrastus – Sergei Kibus (Estonia)
Special Recognition
A Good Heart – Evgeniya Zhirkova (Russia)

Main Prize of the Children’s Jury for Best Feature Film for Children
Rocca Changes the World – Katja Benrath

Main Prize of the Youth Jury for Best Feature Film for Youth
Psychobitch [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 – Martin Lund (Norway)

Europe Award for Best European First Film
The Unpromised Land [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 – Victor Lindgren (Sweden) 

Karol Zeman Award – Special Recognition for Best Visual Concept
Cleo – If I Could Turn Back Time [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 – Erik Schmitt (Germany)

Main Prize for the TOP Film in Zlín Dog
Provence – Kato De Boeck (Belgium)

Best Animated Film
Muteum - Äggie Pak Yee Lee (Estonia)
Special Recognition
Inanimate – Lucia Bulgheroni (UK)

Best Documentary Film
Apart – Diana Cam Van Nguuyen (Czech Republic)
Special Recognition
Ma’MaQueen – Esmée van Loon (Netherlands) 

Best Live-action Film
Last Call – Hajni Kis (Hungary)
Special Recognition 
Cherries – Katarína Gramatová (Czech Republic/Slovakia)

Prizes awarded by non-statutory juries

ECFA Award for Best European Documentary Film for a Young Audience
How Big Is the Galaxy? – Ksenia Elyan (Russia/Estonia)

Ecumenical Jury Award
Psychobitch – Martin Lund
Special Recognition
Rocca Changes the World – Katja Benrath

Audience awards

Golden Apple – The City of Zlín Audience Award for Best Feature Film
Rocca Changes the World – Katja Benrath

ČT:D Audience Award for Best Animated Short Film
Animanimals – Sloth – Julie Ocker (Germany)

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