Festival Winners 2024
International Narrative Film Competition
Best Fiction Film
Under The Grey Sky
Director: Mara Tamkovich
The international jury is honored to award Best Film in the International Narrative Film Competition to Under the Grey Sky, directed by Mara Tamkovich. This compelling realist thriller resonates as a profound aesthetic, social, political, and ethical alarm. It bears witness to the horrors perpetrated by tyrannical regimes striving relentlessly to silence their people. It stands as an unflinching reminder to all—be it the guardians of democracy in Israel or the defenders of freedom in other embattled nations. With exquisite direction, masterful performances, and breathtaking cinematography and editing, this story demands to be seen and heard, a beacon of truth for audiences worldwide.
International Documentary Competition
Best Documentary Film
Photophobia
Director: Ivan Ostrochovský & Pavol Pekarcik
The international jury is privileged to award Best Film in the International Documentary Film Competition to Photophobia, directed by Ivan Osrochosky and Pavol Pekarcik. The jury wishes to acknowledge the undeniably harrowing war in Ukraine as the foundation upon which the directors built a universal message of love and hope for humanity. Through a richly textured palette of directorial ingenuity and cross-genre techniques, they transcended banality, touching base with the lived experience, transforming sorrow and grief into the rarefied realms of our deepest yearning for solidarity and compassion, in short, our humaneness. Sensitive yet unflinching, tender yet brutal, beautiful yet devoid of cynicism, Photophobia, with its compassionate treatment of “first love,” reaffirms cinema’s vital role and enduring quest in the 21st century—a medium through which the complexities of the human condition are illuminated with profound grace.
Panorama Films Competition
Best Panorama Film
Venezuela: Country of Lost Children
Director: Juan Camilo Cruz and Marc Wiese
The international jury is honored to award Best Film in the Panorama Competition to Venezuela: Country of Lost Children, directed by Juan Camilo Cruz and Mark Wiese. The jury commends the film's profound existential force—a cinematic achievement rendered with dignity, humility, and grace in the face of harrowing realities. With remarkable journalistic access, it unveils a chilling glimpse into a social inferno, blending the immediacy of direct cinema with the textured depth of realist first-person testimonies, moving beyond the austerity of Puritan-style directness. Its masterful cinematography, striking use of light, and brutal yet dignified usage of found footage converge to deliver a poignant and visually arresting narrative. This film broadens the viewer's perspective, revealing the fragility of the human condition, and underscoring the tireless fight we must all undertake for the sake of our children, wherever they may be.
Israeli Short Films Competition
Best Short Film Award
Old Ornaments
Director: Rami Pahal
Gently and sensitively, “Old Ornaments” invites us viewers into the vulnerable and tender space of a family whose attempt to recover from the loss of the son echoes in every frame. The intimate dialogue between mother and son, movingly executed by Ruba Bilal and Jalal Masrawa, enables director Rami Fahal to untie and reweave the family bond against the background of hidden, profound pain.
The superb camera work seems to become a secret partner in the human drama, shifting between a ghostly, mysterious presence and an intimate perspective – perhaps that of the missing brother. With sophisticated direction, where the emotions often remain beneath the surface, the film offers the viewers a rich interpretive space that challenges them to complete the story and solve the complex emotional puzzle. And thus, in a gentle linking of the concealed and revealed, a cinematic work takes shape – a deep and loving tale about the hope that beats in the heart of destruction, about healing, about triumph over pain. Together, all those elements combine into an exquisite and disquieting cinematic gem.