The winners of the Official Competition of the fifth edition of BEAST are already known. This year, the festival attributed a prize and a jury mention for each category. The best fiction, documentary and experimental works were awarded by this year’s jury.
EAST WAVE AWARD for Best Fiction Film
Dad’s Sneakers, Olha Zhurba
Ukraine | 2021 | FIC. | 19′.
´For a detailed and fresh take on a coming of age story and institution of family, which combines excellent direction with stunning visuals. The film stood out for its captivating storytelling and complex depiction of the protagonist’s emotional struggle. The multilayered and deeply touching film proves an extraordinary talent.´
JURY MENTION
Alba Vulva, Dorka Vermes
Hungary | 2022 | FIC. | 16
´For a minimalistic yet powerful study of liberation, femininity and intimacy. A nuanced and subtle emotional portrait of a heartbreak evokes a healing process, showing us that sometimes to rebuild we need to destroy and even go against our values.
An intimate portrait of a woman in her late 40s in a life situation of loss that creates empathy established through the unsaid, provoking meditation on traditional gender roles and the nuclear family.´
EAST DOC AWARD for Best Documentary
Pension Day, Liis Lepik
Estonia | 2020 | DOC | 24′
´For its look onto tedium, and the dynamics that we allow ourselves when we feel that we’ve lost the meaning of life, and society doesn’t care anymore. With directing and writing that doesn’t try to appeal to easy emotions and is capable of showing a sense of humour without being frivolous about the theme.´
JURY MENTION
Only the Wind, Zofia Kowalewska
Poland | 2021 | DOC. | 60′
´For a film that shows both great talent in crafting a cinematic experience, and great sympathy for the protagonist, while documenting a nostalgia-filled journey of discovery of the other, and of oneself.´
experimentalEAST AWARD for Best Experimental Film
Mon Chéri Sovietique, Karol Radziszewski
Poland | 2021 | EXP. | 27′
´A brave and subversive film, that uses humour to describe a world between communism and capitalism by deconstructing the figure of the Soviet soldier. A suppressed and uncomfortable archive, which was certainly destined for destruction, but that there is built as an important archive for a queer memory.´
JURY MENTION
Before The Fall There Was No Fall, Anna Dasovic
The Netherlands | 2020 | EXP. | 20′
´This film is awarded the special mention for showing us something we might not have known without having seen it–something inconsequential at first sight, but scary and baffling if given a moment to consider it.
A film that masterfully combines archival material and authentic found footage to look for how traces of history manifest themselves. Searching for meaning in porous walls where the trauma is fresh. A powerful way to show what can happen when artists keep searching, don’t let go, don’t forget.´
