12/06/2024 - Other winners include Milivoj and Veljko Popović's Žarko, You Will Spoil the Child!, Daniel Sterlin-Altman’s Carrotica and Benoît Chieux’s Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds

Nienke Deutz was crowned the Grand Prix winner of the Short Films Grand Competition for her film, The Miracle

The 34th edition of the World Festival of Animated Film - Animafest Zagreb (running 3-8 June) wrapped last Saturday night. The jury of the Short Films Grand Competition, consisting of Sofiia Melnyk, Naomi Van Niekerk, Marta Pajek, Malte Stein and Vjeran Šalamon, decided to award their Grand Prize to Belgian-Dutch-French film The Miracle, directed Nienke Deutz, for treating “an invisible subject with subtlety and nuance” and using “delicate storytelling [that] leaves us with hope.”

The same jury awarded the Golden Zagreb Award for Creativity and Innovative Artistic Achievement to Nicolas Brault, for the independently produced Canadian film Entropic Memory, while the Zlatko Grgić Award for Best First Film went to Reborn with You, directed by South Korea’s Inju Park.

Each of the jury members also decided to award special prizes (details of which can be found below), while the Jury of the Feature Films Grand Competition, comprising Barry JC Purves, Vassilis C. Karamitsanis and Vera Neubauer, decided to grant their Grand Prize to Spanish-German film Sultana’s Dream [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Isabel Herguera
film profile] by Isabel Herguera. A special award went to the Hungarian movie Pelikan Blue [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laszló Csaki
film profile] by Lászlo Csáki.

The combined jury of the Student Film Competition and the Croatian Film Competition (Diana Cam Van Nguyen, João Gonzalez and Ivana Kvesić) handed the Dušan Vukotić Award for Best Student Film to Germany’s Daniel Sterlin-Altman for Carrotica. Meanwhile, Žarko, You Will Spoil the Child! by Milivoj and Veljko Popović received the Best Croatian Film Prize, as well as the Audience Award in the shorts category. The same trophy in the features category went to France’s Benoît Chieux for Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile].

Finally, the winner of the Films for Children and Youth Competition was Mexican-French-Hungarian film Nube by Diego Alonso Sánchez de la Barquera Estrada and Christian Arredondo Narváez.

The full list of Animafest Zagreb award winners is as follows:

Grand Competition Short Film

Grand Prix
The Miracle - Nienke Deutz (Belgium/France/Denmark)

Golden Zagreb Award for Creativity and Innovative Artistic Achievement
Entropic Memory - Joseph Pierce (Canada)

Zlatko Grgić Award
Reborn with You - Inju Park (South Korea)

Sofiia Melnyk’s Special Mention
Aaaah! - Osman Cerfon (France)

Naomi Van Niekerk's Special Mention
Three Birds - Zarje Menart (Slovenia/Croatia)

Marta Pajek’s Special Mention
The Bitch - Carla Mero Gampert (Colombia/France)

Malte Stein’s Special Mention
Zima - Tomek Popakula and Kasumi Ozeki (Poland)

Vjeran Šalamon’s Special Mention
Circle - Yumi Joung (South Korea)

Mr M Audience Award
Žarko, You Will Spoil the Child! - Milivoj and Veljko Popović (Croatia)

Grand Competition Feature Film

Grand Prix
Sultana’s Dream [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Isabel Herguera
film profile] - Isabel Herguera (Spain/Germany)

Special Mention
Pelikan Blue [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laszló Csaki
film profile] - Lászlo Csáki (Hungary)

Mr M Audience Award
Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Benoît Chieux (France)

Student Film Competition

Dušan Vukotić Award for Best Student Film
Carrotica - Daniel Sterlin-Altman (Germany, short)

First Special Mention
Such Miracles Do Happen - Barbara Rupik (Poland, short)

Second Special Mention
The Posthuman Hospital - Junha Kim (South Korea, short)

Croatian Film Competition

Best Film
Žarko, You Will Spoil the Child! - Milivoj and Veljko Popović (Croatia, short)

Special Mention
Windows from the South - Eugen Bilankov (Croatia, short)

Films for Children and Youth Competition

Best Film
Nube - Diego Alonso Sánchez de la Barquera Estrada and Christian Arredondo Narváez (Mexico/France/Hungary, short)

Special Mention
The Grand Mother - Julia Hazuka (Poland, short)

Special Mention On the 8th Day - Agatha Sénéchal, Alicia Massez, Elise Debruyne, Flavia Carin and Thé Duhautois (France, short)