Last night, the 1st International Silent Film Festival Silence is Golden concluded in the Student City Cultural Center in New Belgrade. From over 1200 films that were sent to the competition of the festival, 36 films from 20 different countries were selected, and screened in the previous three days in 3 competition programs.
The jury composed of Aleksandra Mitrić Štifanić, producer and director, Vladimir Šojat, film editor and video artist and Szabolcs Tolnai, director and professor at the Faculty of Media and Communications, decided on the best films in 4 categories and the overall best film of the festival, as well as three special awards.
Award-winning films
The special awards of the jury went to the films: The Siege of the Word by Jufei Dua from Great Britain because it points out the poverty and reshaping of language in the modern urban environment; Prokop directed by Danilo Stanimirović from Serbia was awarded for a mature setting and cinematic elaboration of an acute problem from our environment; Suite From the Shore of the Lake by director Fabrizio Arana from Switzerland, who with his visual style and poetics evokes some of the great achievements of film art, while managing to build his original expression.
The diploma for the best experimental film was awarded to the film “Messages, Imprints of Love, Part Two, Carmel”, directed by Alexandra Questa, USA, Ecuador. The film is reminiscent of a diary of nothing, but in fact it records moments that carry the essence of the present, the fullness and joy of living.
The diploma for the best animated film was awarded to the film “Dune” directed by Gabor Ulrich from Hungary. The film captivates with its unpretentiousness, which acts on the viewer as a natural phenomenon in itself, without an artificially imposed narrative or idea.
The diploma for the best documentary film was awarded to the Japanese-Argentine film “Cafe de Kinema” by Argentine director Sol Miralya. The faces of the visitors of the cinema cafe seem to display the film performances of their very lives.
The diploma for the best short feature film was awarded to the film “The Girl Who Couldn’t Sleep”, directed by Sofia Antonio from Greece. The film raises the question of whether it is possible to reach a moment when you are in complete harmony with nature and with yourself?
The Mask of Silence is Gold for the best film of the festival was awarded to the short documentary “Estereotype” directed by Ines Espinoza from Spain. A film that reminded us that there are concentration camps even today.