The presentation on Sunday evening of the two main prizes, each worth 15,000 euros, for the short film EVOLUTIONS by the Finnish artist Jani Ruscica and WOLFY, the cinema debut of the Russian dramatist Vasilij Sigarev, marked the end of the Cologne KunstFilmBiennale 2009. The jury called WOLFY “an oppressively intense description of a lost childhood in the Russian provinces, a childhood marked by extreme loneliness and brutality.” In EVOLUTIONS, “infinity and personal lifetimes combine in touching, individual attempts by young people to explain evolution.”

 

During the festival, 160 films were shown in Cologne and Bonn, almost 50 of them in the International Competition. The jury gave an Honourable Mention to the film HADEWIJCH by Bruno Dumont of France; the award of the Association of German Film Critics went to the Belgium-based American artist Adam Leech for SPEECH BUBBLE.

 

In the competition for young film artists vying for the BILD-KUNSTAward for Experimental Film, Jana Debus, a student in Cologne, received the first prize of 12,500 euros for GREGOR ALEXIS, “a sensitive personal portrait combining objectivity and melancholy” of her schizophrenic brother. The other money prizes went to Marc Thümmler for RADFAHRER and Mirko Martin for NOIR.

 

The two audience awards for long and short films in the International Competition, which were presented for the first time, went to LEBANON by the Israeli director Samuel Maoz and the short film LOVE YOU MORE by London artist Sam Taylor-Wood.

The prizewinners at the KunstFilmBiennale 2009 are:

WOLFY by Vasili Sigarev, RU 2009, 86’

 

A Special Mention goes to:

HADEWIJCH by Bruno Dumont, FR/DE 2009, 105’

EVOLUTIONS by Jani Ruscica, FI 2008, 18’

 

SPEECH BUBBLE by Adam Leech, BE, 5’

 

Nico, Audience Award of the City of Cologne for films of over 60 minutes length:

LEBANON by Samuel Maoz, IL/FR/DE 2009, 90'

Nico, Audience Award of the SK Stiftung Kultur for films under 60 minutes length:

LOVE YOU MORE by Sam Taylor-Wood, GB 2008, 15’

BILD-KUNST Award for Experimental Film:

presented by the Verwertungsgesellschaft BILD-KUNST

 

First prize of 12,500 euros:

GREGOR ALEXIS by Jana Debus, DE 2008, 20’

 

Second prize of 7,500 euros:

RADFAHRER by Marc Thümmler, DE 2008, 27’

 

Third prize of 5,000 euros:

NOIR by Mirko Martin, US 2008, 8’

 

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