VŠECHNY AKTUALITYPavel Koutecký Award for Intensive Life Unit, ELBE DOCK Award for after a room
PAVEL KOUTECKÝ AWARD FOR FEATURE LENGTH-DOCUMENTARY:
(Adéla Komrzý, 2021, Czech Republic; 76 min)
What awaits you at the end of life? And what is the life like for those who face death as an everyday part of their job? A compelling documentary film by Adéla Komrzý offers a sensitive testimony about how we experience the end.
Adéla Komrzý
Adéla Komrzý (*1992) studied history of art at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague. In 2020, she completed her Master's degree in documentary filmmaking at FAMU, Prague. In 2018, she was on an internship at the prestigious German university, Filmuni Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, where she studied directing. The same year, she was selected for the Berlinale Talents. She won the main Andrej ‘Nikolaj’ Stankovič Award with her BA film Teaching War and her film Intensive Life Unit won the Czech Lion and the Czech Film Critics Award for Best Documentary.
SPECIAL MENTION:
(Vera Lacková, 2021, Slovakia / Czech Republic; 90 min)
“For you, Roma people are a homogenous group that acts as a single person,” claim the descendants of Roma partisans whose part in the battles of World War II Slovak society likes to forget. The consequences of the war conflict, still felt today, from a point of view nobody has cared about for a long time.
Vera Lacková
Vera Lacková is a Roma filmmaker and the owner of the production company Media Voice. In her original work, she fights against stereotypical perception and discrimination against minorities. In addition to her commercial endeavours, she has also taken part in the international documentary project Because There Is hope. She is one of the few established Roma filmmakers in the Czech media environment. In 2019, she participated in the IDFA Academy in Amsterdam. How I Became a Partisan is her documentary feature debut.
PAVEL KOUTECKÝ AWARD FOR DOCUMENTARY SHORT:
(Josef Švejda, 2022, Czech Republic; 28 min)
I walk the path others do not. Normal people travel in train compartments, not on freight trains. I don't study, I don't pay taxes – so what? Does it make me less human? I'm exploring the world. I know I won't live this way forever.
Josef Švejda
Josef Švejda (*1990) is a documentary filmmaker. While studying journalism and media at Charles University, Prague, he founded a magazine about urban underground culture, was involved in student cultural activities and published articles in several magazines. After graduating from university, he decided to pursue a career as a documentary filmmaker and was accepted to FAMU, Prague. He works as a communication specialist and creator of audio-visual works. JANG is his short film debut.
ELBE DOCK AWARD FOR SHORT FILM:
(Naomi Pacifique, 2021, Netherlands/United Kingdom/Switzerland; 21 min)
In the film of Swiss director Naomi Pacifique, who also cast herself as the lead, we peer into a room that is the messy but cosy universe of a couple whose nights spent together are seemingly endless. The couple walks around the flat unembarrassed by their nakedness, yet we feel that Naomi is struggling with something on the inside. Her sudden brooding is juxtaposed with the carefree playfulness of her pre-school age, depicted in the film in the form of old home-videos. Will Naomi succeed in getting in touch with her former natural self?
Naomi Pacifique
Naomi Pacifique is a Swiss-Dutch multi-disciplinary artist. She graduated from Oxford University with an Mst in Creative Writing and from London Film School with an MA in Filmmaking. Her graduation film, after a room premiered at the 74th edition of Locarno International Film Festival, in the Pardi di Domani section. The last short film she produced and assistant directed, Filipiñana, was awarded the Silver Bear Shorts Jury Prize at the 70th Berlinale.