23/10/2017 - The Polish event’s Grand Prix went to the Chinese feature To Kill a Watermelon

Director Joan Chemla with her Best Director Award for If You Saw His Heart (© www.rafalnowak.com)

The 33^rd edition of the Warsaw Film Festival included 119 feature films and 76 shorts in its programme. Apart from the awards given out across the five competitive sections, Warsaw also presented prizes from the NETPAC jury, ecumenical jury, young FIPRESCI jury and FIPRESCI jury.

The main distinction of the festival, the Warsaw Grand Prix, which comes with a cash prize of approximately €22,000, was presented to Zehao Gao’s film To Kill a Watermelon. The Chinese drama triumphed over 14 other films shown in the International Competition. The jury also gave the Best Director Award to France’s Joan Chemla for If You Saw His Heart [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and the Special Jury Award to Filipino actors Allen Dizon and Angelie Sanoy, who starred in A Bomb, directed by Ralston Gonzales Jover.

Competition 1-2 was won by Danish film The Charmer [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ardalan Esmaili
interview: Milad Alami
film profile] by Milad Alami, while Norway’s The Rules for Everything [+see also:
trailer
interview: Kim Hiorthøy
film profile] by Kim Hiorthøy was named Best Film in the Free Spirit Competition. The Documentary Competition’s jury presented its prize to Wonderful Losers: A Different World [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Arūnas Matelis, a co-production between Lithuania, Latvia, Italy and Belgium. The Short Grand Prix went to May Day by Belgian duo Olivier Magis and Fedrik De Beul. Other European films awarded at the 33^rd edition of the Warsaw Film Festival included the Polish-Dutch title Beyond Words [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Urszula Antoniak
film profile] by Urszula Antoniak (which scooped the Ecumenical Jury Award), Hugo [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Polish filmmaker Wojciech Klimala (Young FIPRESCI Jury Award) and the Slovak-Czech co-production Nina [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Juraj Lehotský
film profile] by Juraj Lehotský (FIPRESCI Award).

The festival also organised an audience poll: according to Warsaw’s visitors, the best feature-length narrative film was Sweden’s A Hustler’s Diary [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Ivica Zubak, and the best documentary was the USA’s AlphaGo by Greg Kohs.

Next year’s edition of the Warsaw Film Festival will take place from 12-21 October 2018. 

Here is the full list of awarded films: 

International Competition

Warsaw Grand Prix
To Kill a Watermelon – Zehao Gao (China)

Best Director
Joan Chemla – If You Saw His Heart [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (France)

Special Jury Award
Actors Allen Dizon and Angelie Sanoy – The Bomb (Philippines)
Special Mention
The Miner [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hanna Slak
film profile] – Hanna Slak (Slovenia/Croatia) 

Competition 1-2 

Competition 1-2 Award
The Charmer [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ardalan Esmaili
interview: Milad Alami
film profile] – Milad Alami (Denmark)
Special Mention
Find This Dumb Little Bitch and Throw Her into the River [+see also:
trailer
interview: Ben Brand
film profile] – Ben Brand (Netherlands)

Documentary Competition

Best Documentary Feature
Wonderful Losers: A Different World [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Arūnas Matelis (Lithuania/Latvia/Italy/Belgium)

Free Spirit Competition

Free Spirit Award
The Rules for Everything [+see also:
trailer
interview: Kim Hiorthøy
film profile] – Kim Hiorthøy (Norway)

Special Mention
Highway 318 – Yunxing Nie (China)

Short Film Competition

Short Grand Prix
May Day – Olivier Magis and Fedrik De Beul (Belgium)
Special Mention
I Will Always Love You, Conny – Amanda Kernell (Sweden)

Best Documentary Short
How to Become a Pope – Justyna Mytnik (Poland) 

Best Animated Short
Weekends – Trevor Jimenez (USA) 

Best Live Action Short
Offstage – Andrei Huțuleac (Romania) 

NETPAC Jury Award for Best Asian Film
Out of Frame – Wai Lun Kwok (China)

Ecumenical Jury Award
Beyond Words [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Urszula Antoniak
film profile] – Urszula Antoniak (Poland/Netherlands)
Special Mention
The Miner – Hanna Slak (Slovenia/Croatia) 

Young FIPRESCI Award for Best Debut from Eastern Europe
Hugo [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Wojciech Klimala (Poland) 

FIPRESCI Award for Best Debut from Eastern Europe
Nina [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Juraj Lehotský
film profile] – Juraj Lehotský (Slovakia/Czech Republic)