Berlinale’s 2010, first Bears awarded

Minarolli’s last film Alive is competing at the 60th edition of Berlinale, which kicked off on February 11th. The movie has already competed in several film festivals such as Cottbus Film Festival, Germany, Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic), Pusan (South Korea), Antalya (Turkey), Chennai (India), Bergen (Norway) etc. Alive is also on the list of movies to be considered for the Foreign Language section at Oscars 2010.
In the meantime, Bears are already awarded at the 60th edition of Berlinale Film Festival. The Golden Bear for the best short film went to H寤else Vid Bank by Ruben ׳tlund from Sweden. The movie plot consists of 96 people who are reconstructing a failed bank robbery witnessed in 2006. The Jury explains: “His film is a real reflection on our times and the role played by media. Filmed with a single camera without a single cut, we zoom in and out of the picture as if using a CCTV camera. The dialogues are perfect, humanity is explained with humour.”
The Jury-Prize Silver Bear went to Israel, for Hayerida by Shai Miedzinski. The director chose his own family, his mother and sister, as cast. This creates a unique intensity.
A family is looking for a stone. A stone that is suitable to be used as a tombstone on their prodigal son’s grave. The Jury argues: “The Israeli desert sets a dusty and intense background for a coherent road movie about loss. It’s hard to depict grief, a transition for a family, but the director listens to the wind blow and frames the emotion.”
The DAAD scholarship goes to Adrian Sitaru from Romania for Colivia. Father and Mother are eating when the son shows up, carrying an injured dove in his arms. “I want the pigeon to stay”, says the son. “Impossible”, says the father. “I want it to stay and I want a cage for it”, insists the son. “It’s a perfectly paced miniature, a chamber piece inside a Romanian tower block. Funny, heartfelt, with a wonderful rhythm. The director needs only 17 minutes to portray the three characters involved,” comments the Jury.
The nomination for the European Film Academy Short Film 2010 went to the young Belgian director Natalie Teirlinck for her film Venus vs Me. “An experimental attempt to recount childhood memories from the interior with a complex montage technique. Pictures, sound and editing blend into multilayered storytelling. The director magnificently negotiates the puzzle.”