Six Swiss films win international awards

"Die Frau mit den 5 Elefanten" (The Woman With The 5 Elephants), winner of the Swiss Film Prize "Quartz 2010" for Best Documentary Film, participated with 22 other films in the Kino Pen competition in Montreal. A three-member jury presented the Image Award from the Alliance of Québec Film and Television Technicians (AQTIS).

The three-member jury of the festival in Leeds made the final decision for the "Méliès d'Or" nomination: "...Yuri Lennon was something special, a gem of straight SF filmmaking. Shown as one continuous shot, it packs a huge amount into showing you so very little! Narratively it reminded us so strongly of those wonderfully twisted 1950s EC Comics! We're not going to tell you much more about the film, but you should see it - whilst singing ‘I'm A Lonesome Cowboy' to yourself in an off-key voice...". The short film "Yuri Lennon's Landing On Alpha 46," which has already garnered five awards, is now among the twelve films in the running for Best European Fantasy Film, which will be presented at the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia in October 2011. The "Méliès d'Or" is presented to short and feature film productions by the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation (EFFFF), comprised of approximately 20 members.

The jury at the 51st Festival dei Popoli in Florence, which is devoted to documentary filmmaking, selected the film "Cotonov Vanished" (HEAD, Geneva) as the Best Short Film. The jury was comprised of cineastes Michelangelo Frammartino (Italy) and Lech Kowalski (USA), as well as the director of the Cinéma du Réel Festival in Paris, Javier Packer-Comyn (France), producer Tiziana Soudani (Ticino) and Aliona Shumakova, consultant of the Venice International Cinematography Exhibit (Russia). The jury's statement was as follows: "If someone on Mars watched this short film, he would understand Earth much better." The film "Maye et fils" (Maye And Son) (ECAL, Lausanne) was honoured by the student jury "for the ability to show and compare three generations with humanity and compassion. The film translates private and familiar themes into universal ones." The Audience Prize in Florence is already the third international award for "Nel giardino dei suoni" (In The Garden Of Sounds) since winning the Prix de Soleure 2010 at the Solothurn Film Festival.

Furthermore, the Genevese filmmaker Eileen Hofer was presented with an Honourable Mention of the "Prix Femis" in the Young European Author section at the 30th International Amiens Film Festival (November 12-20) for her latest short film "Soap Opera In Wonderland." The award is presented to current and former students of the film school in Paris.

Geneva, November 22, 2010