Eleven Swiss films honoured with awards at international festivals

With the FIPRESCI Award at the 23^rd Ljubljana International Film Festival (November 7-18), Ursula Meier’s fiction film “Sister” has won its twelfth award. The Swiss director Alina Marazzi brought home two awards for her film “Tutto parla di te,” a coproduction by Ventura Film in Ticino at the 7^th Festival del cinema in Rome (November 9-17): for Best Emerging Director and for Best Producer, presented to the Italian producer Gianfilippo Pedotet. The documentary film “Hoselupf” by This Lüscher won 2^nd Prize for Best Sport Film at the 30^th World FICTS Challenge in Beijing (November 14-17).

Short films win in Munich, Brest and Recife
Talkhon Hamzavi’s short fiction film “Parvaneh,” produced at the Zurich University of the Arts, won the Prix Interculturel for Best Film Fostering Intercultural Dialog, endowed with EUR 5,000, at the 31^st Munich International Festival of Filmschools (November 11-17, 2012). The six-member Interfilm jury concluded that “the leading actress’ performance creates a great amount of empathy for people from different cultures.” And Stéphane Riethauser’s short film “Prora” won over the jury of the 27^th Brest European Short Film Festival (November 13-18). The Special Jury Prize was presented to the thirty-minute documentary film “Les cheveux courts, ronde, petite taille” by Robin Harsch at the 5^th Janela Internacional de Cinema (November 9-18) in Recife.

Animation films score in Germany, Portugal, Great Britain and Italy
The animation film “Eisprung” by Loretta Arnold was honoured with the Audience Award for the weirdest and most wonderful film in the Eject XIV Competition, endowed with EUR 1,000, at the 28^th Interfilm Short Film Festival in Berlin (November 13-18). The Genevan master of animation film Georges Schwizgebel won the Prix José Abel for “Chemin faisant,” an episode in the “La faute à Rousseau” collection, at the 36^th Cinanima International Animated Film Festival in Espinho, Portugal (November 12-18). The film “Kali, le petit vampire” by the Portuguese director Regina Pessoa, coproduced by his Studio GDS, garnered a Special Mention from the jury as well as the award for Best Soundtrack, which was composed by the Swiss rock group “The Young Gods.” The animated cartoon film “Der kleine Vogel und das Blatt” by Lena von Döhren also garnered a Special Mention at the 19^th Bradford Animation Festival (November 13-17). In Italy the puppet animation film “Monsieur l’assassin X” by Antonio Veiras and Lynn Devillaz a Special Mention at the 20^th Yasujiro Ozu International Short Film Festival in Sassuolo (November 9-18).

Geneva/Zurich, November 19, 2012