03/05/2023 - Damian Kocur’s film has been crowned as Best Fiction, Juraj Lerotić bagged the Audience Award, while Marek Kozakiewicz’s and Alisa Kovalenko’s documentaries shared a prize

Director Damian Kocur (left) accepting his award for Bread and Salt from Dennis Ruh (© Christoph Leeb)

The jubilee 20th edition of Crossing Europe drew to a successful close with the awards ceremony that took place on Sunday 30 April at Ursulinensaal in Linz, Austria. This year’s edition saw screenings of 139 films from 45 countries, taking in feature-, mid-length and short fiction movies and documentaries, spread across competitive, non-competitive and retrospective sections. This year’s attendance stood at around 16,000, which is a slight increase on last year’s 15,000. Although the festival is now over, selected film titles will be available to watch on the Kino VOD Club platform in Austria throughout May.

Damian Kocur’s Bread and Salt [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Damian Kocur
film profile] was singled out as the top dog in the Fiction Competition by the jury consisting of Nicoletta Romeo (artistic director of the Trieste Film Festival), filmmaker Norika Sefa and Dennis Ruh (director of the European Film Market). On top of the festival’s award, the film scooped a €5,000 cash prize provided by City of Linz Kultur. Giacomo Abbruzzese’s Berlinale title Disco Boy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Giacomo Abbruzzese
film profile] got a Special Mention, while Juraj Lerotić’s Safe Place [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Juraj Lerotić
film profile] pocketed the Audience Award, topped off with a €5,000 cash prize provided by the Region of Upper Austria’s Office for Culture.

This year’s edition also saw the introduction of one more award for a filmmaker’s first or second feature: the MIOB New Vision Award, which was decided on and handed out by representatives of festivals connected within the Moving Images – Open Borders network. The winning picture was Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson’s Beautiful Beings [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson
film profile], which was actually screened at last year’s edition of Crossing Europe.

In the Documentary Competition, the jury consisting of Mariam Chutkerashvili (film critic and programme coordinator of the Ciné-Doc Tbilisi International Documentary Film Festival) plus filmmakers Serpil Turhan and Vitaly Mansky decided to share the Social Awareness Award for Best Documentary Film between two titles. They were Marek Kozakiewicz’s Silent Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Alisa Kovalenko’s Berlinale Generation 14plus title We Will Not Fade Away [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. Along with the award, the films shared a €5,000 cash prize provided by the Gutenberg Werbering company.

The youth jury also decided on the winners of the YAAAS! Competition, crowning Julie Lerat-Gersant’s Little Ones [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Julie Lerat-Gersant
film profile] as Best Film in the competition and giving Milena Aboyan’s Elaha [+see also:
film review
film profile] a Special Mention. The winners of the Local Artists Competition were also unveiled, with Isabella Friedl’s Cloudy Memories and Selma Doborac’s De Facto [+see also:
film review
film profile] crowned as the winners of the €5,000 cash prize and the €2,000 post-production grant, respectively, while Siegfried A Fuhauf’s Cave Painting received a Special Mention. Clemens Niel’s music video for the song “Cruel Hearted/Maybe Someday” by Mile & Flip bagged the Creative Region Music Video Award.

Here is the full list of award winners:

Fiction Competition

Winning Film
Bread and Salt [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Damian Kocur
film profile] – Damian Kocur (Poland)
Special Mention
Disco Boy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Giacomo Abbruzzese
film profile] – Giacomo Abbruzzese (France/Italy/Belgium/Poland)

Audience Award
Safe Place [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Juraj Lerotić
film profile] – Juraj Lerotić (Croatia/Slovenia)

Documentary Competition

Social Awareness Award for Best Documentary Film (ex-aequo)
Silent Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Marek Kozakiewicz (Germany/Poland)
We Will Not Fade Away [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Alisa Kovalenko (Ukraine/France/Poland/USA)

YAAAS! Competition

Winning Film
Little Ones [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Julie Lerat-Gersant
film profile] – Julie Lerat-Gersant (France)
Special Mention
Elaha [+see also:
film review
film profile] – Milena Aboyan (Germany)

MIOB New Vision Award
Beautiful Beings [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson
film profile] – Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson (Iceland/Denmark/Sweden/Netherlands/Czech Republic)

Local Artists Competition

Crossing Europe Award
Cloudy Memories – Isabella Friedl (Italy)
De Facto [+see also:
film review
film profile] – Selma Doborac (Austria/Germany)
Special Mention
Cave Painting – Siegfried A Fruhauf (Austria)

Creative Region Music Video Award
“Cruel Hearted/Maybe Someday” by Mile & Flip – Clemens Niel (Austria)