We would prefer that Jean-Luc Godard, one of the characters in this film, write the rationale behind this award, so we will use the director’s quote, which also summarizes the features of “By Friday Robinson”:
“Movies were invented to see, tell and learn things. They were mostly a scientific tool to look at life differently. Viewership should be 5 or 10 percent of cinema. Everything else should be documentation in the broad sense, i.e., research and articles. My process has always been Side view, in the margin. No notebook is without margins. Margin is a necessary space”
– This is how the verdict was justified by the jury consisting of: Agata Buzek – an excellent Polish actress who has been associated with Nowe Horyzonty for many years; Michel Franco – one of the most important representatives of Mexican cinema, laureate, among others three awards at Cannes and the Silver Lion of Venice; Radu Jude – the chief exorcist of the Roman national demons and professor of gruesome cinema, laureate of silver and gold bears; Nadav Lapid – one of the most important contemporary Israeli directors, winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes and the Golden Bear; Sandra Woolner – a young Austrian film actress, whose unique debut – “Impossible Image” – won recognition at international festivals, and the second film – “About the inconvenience of childbirth” at the Berlinale – was one of the most discussed films of 20 New Horizons.
Mitra Farahani is an artist, director and producer, born in 1975 in Tehran. She graduated from the Department of Graphics at Azad University, and also studied at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. He currently lives and works in Italy and France. Since 2001, all Farahani’s films have been shown for the world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.
The jury also awarded the film “After Water”, directed by Dan Comlin. As we read in the justification: This film, set in fluent time periods, explores the realm of the ongoing unconscious, human, pre-human, and possibly post-human. In a word: water. The film is often compared to a dream, but by intentionally immersing itself in poems, sounds of nature, and images away from our notions of beauty and detachment, this film achieves just that.
22 New Horizons viewers and viewers chose the winner. The audience award went to Peter Kereks, author of “107 Moms” (107 Moms). It is worth noting that the ratings of all films in the competition were high.
This year’s scholarship awardee for the shortlisted author of the film is Kenja Bodicek, director of “Fat Melon” – To revive indifference, creativity and emotional honesty, allowing us to feel with heroes the euphoria of the night and the hardships of the morning. The scholarship is funded by the New Horizons Association.
For the fifth time in the festival, Zuzanna Jagoda Kolska for the youngest artist to participate in New Horizons. This year the award was given to Piotr Michalski, co-author of the film “Sperm Obsession”, which was shown at the festival.
This is not the end of the festival – until August 7 we invite you to attend online presentations of more than 100 titles!
