Mid-August Lunch named Best Film at Bratislava
Gianni di Gregorio's Mid-August Lunch [+see also:
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The international jury — French filmmaker Eric Boyer, Austrian critic Otto Reiter, Hungarian director Gyorgi Palfi, Swedish producer Freddy Olsson and Slovak director Dusan Trancik — noted: “The cinema is a meeting place. The kitchen is a meeting place. Six people and 24 hours show that life can be fun. But remember, it requires a good Chablis to prepare a good sauce.”
For the second time in his career, Amat Escalante was named Best Director at the festival, this time for his film The Bastards; the first was in 2006 for his debut film, Blood. Escalante's film also received the Student Jury Award.
Zsolt Anger won Best Actor for his performance in Attila Gigor’s The Investigator, while Nada Abou Farhat was named Best Actress for her role in Under the Bombs [+see also:
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Under the Bombs also received a Special Mention from the Ecumenical Jury and the FIPRESCI Award.
The Ecumenical Jury Award went to Rodrigo Pla’s The Zone [+see also:
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film profile], while Eva Sorhaug’s Cold Lunch [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] received the Slovak Television Award. The festival gave awarded two People's Choice prizes, one for a Slovak film — Pavol Barabas' documentary Bhutan — and one for any film at the festival — Mid-August Lunch.
Hungarian director Istvan Szabo received an Award for Artistic Excellence in World Cinematography.
The festival took place Nov 28–Dec 5 at Palace Cinemas multiplex in Bratislava, with additional screenings in Kosice and Banská Bystrica and saw more than 23,000 admissions.
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