It has been quite a festival run for Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel’s Vera [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel
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The Grand Diagonale Prize for Best Documentary Film, also endowed with €21,000, went to Souls of a River by Chris Krikellis. The essay film about the River Evros, on the Greek-Turkish border, shows a forensic doctor travelling along the border region, identifying the corpses of refugees on the river banks. The jury called it a film that poses questions “that are more urgent today than ever before. [...] Questions of belonging, home, borders, empathy, humanity, political failure and repression.” The movie also won the Diagonale Prize for Editing in the documentary-film category, for the work of Lisa Zoe Geretschläger. The corresponding winner in the feature-film category was Felix Leitner, for Menuett.

The Diagonale Prize for Innovative Cinema, to the tune of €8,500, for the best innovative, experimental or animated film, went to C-TV (Wenn ich Dir sage, ich habe Dich gern …) by Eva Egermann and Cordula Thym. A well-off talk show host talks to people with disabilities, who give insight into their daily lives. The jury found it to be “a playful and accomplished experimentation with form and structure, which flows directly from the foregrounding of the infrastructure of representational justice”.

Further awards that were handed out were the Diagonale Acting Prizes for Pia Hierzegger in Family Dinner [+leggi anche:
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All in all, 19 awards, making up a total of €195,000, were presented to filmmakers throughout the evening. Furthermore, all of the winners received artwork created by artist Anna Paul.

Here is the full list of award winners:

Grand Diagonale Prize of the Province of Styria - Best Feature Film
Vera [+leggi anche:
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Grand Diagonale Prize of the Province of Styria - Best Documentary Film
Souls of a River - Chris Krikellis (Greece/Austria/Germany)

Diagonale Prize for Innovative Cinema by the City of Graz - Best Innovative, Experimental or Animation Film
C-TV (Wenn ich Dir sage, ich habe Dich gern …) - Eva Egermann, Cordula Thym (Austria)

Diagonale Prize for Short Feature - Best Short Feature Film
Cornetto im Gras - David Lapuch (Austria)

Diagonale Prize for Short Documentary Film from the KULTUM - Best Short Documentary
Wankostättn - Karin Berger (Austria)

Diagonale Prize from the Youth Jury of the Province of Styria - Best Young Talent Film
Land der Berge - Olga Kosanović (Austria/Germany)

Diagonale Prizes for Editing from the Verband Filmschnitt aea

Best Artistic Editing in a Feature Film
Felix Leitner – Menuett (Austria/Germany)

Best Artistic Editing in a Documentary Film
Lisa Zoe Geretschläger - Souls of a River

Diagonale Cinematography Prizes from the Verband Österreichischer Kameraleute AAC

Best Cinematography in a Feature Film
Judith Kaufmann – Corsage [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Marie Kreutzer
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Best Cinematography in a Documentary Film
Klemens Koscher - 27 Storeys (Austria/Germany)

Diagonale Prizes for Sound Design from the Berufsvereinigung der Filmtonschaffenden Österreichs – Filmton Austria

Best Sound Design in a Feature Film
Lenja Gathmann - Family Dinner [+leggi anche:
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Best Sound Design in a Documentary Film
Clemens Endreß - Jedermann und ich – Ein Porträt in 3 Kapiteln (Germany/Austria)

Diagonale Prizes for Production Design and Costume Design from the Verband Österreichischer Filmausstatter*innen VÖF

Best Production Design
Martin Reiter - Corsage

Best Costume Design
Claire Dubien - The Beast in the Jungle [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Patric Chiha
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Diagonale Acting Prizes in cooperation with the VdFS – Verwertungsgesellschaft der Filmschaffenden
Pia Hierzegger - Family Dinner
Gerhard Liebmann – Eismayer [+leggi anche:
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intervista: David Wagner
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VAM Prize for Outstanding Production Services (ex aequo)
Samsara Filmproduktion and Graf Filmproduktion - Rubikon [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Leni Lauritsch
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Aichholzer Filmproduktion - Snotty Boy [+leggi anche:
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Film AG - Corsage (producers Alexander Glehr, Johanna Scherz)

Diagonale Award for Film Composition of the Austrian Composers Association

Best Original Score in a Feature Film
Karwan Marouf - Sterne unter der Stadt (Austria)

Best Original Score in a Documentary Film
Gil Chéri - Wo ist Ida (Austria/Greece/Israel/Portugal)

Kodak Analog Film Prize
Ludwig Wüst, Klemens Koscher – I Am Here! [+leggi anche:
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Diagonale Audience Prize of the Kleine Zeitung
Feminism WTF - Katharina Mückstein (Austria)