2022 Prize Winners
by Becky Tan

The 38th Kurzfilm (short film) Festival Hamburg took place May 31-June 6, 2022.

Winner of the Hamburger Kurzfilmpreis (Hamburg Short Film Award) of 3000 Euros was HANDBOOK (HANDBUCH). Director Pavel Mozhar reconstructs police action: arresting and imprisoning demonstrators at a protest march in Belarus in 2020. The jury said, “The challenge was the act of presenting human atrocities without showing actual violence. The viewer must imagine the use of force, which leaves one with a deep and off-putting feeling, which remains long after the film is over."

IT'S RAINING FROGS OUTSIDE (AMPANGABAGAT NIN TALAKBA HA LIKOL) by Maria Estela Paiso from the Philippines won The Defamed Prize (Defamed Award) of 2000 Euros. Here Maya must return home to Zambales where she and the frogs quaking outside are both unwelcome. This leads to loneliness and isolation. Paiso said about this, her debut film: “It is a form of acceptance for my identity crisis.” The jury said, “This film is a very deep emotional exploration of feeling from most inner demons of social expectations and the own person’s desire to be caught. “

The Deutscher WettbewerbJurypreis (German Competition Jury Award) of 2,000 Euros went to OH BUTTERFLY! (OH, SCHMETTERLING!) by Sylvia Schedelbauer. This involves a presentation of Puccini’s opera “Madame Butterfly” with a full cast of over 60 singers with clips from film/television archival sources included in an imaginary cassette tape and revolves around family history. The jury said, “The filmmaker uses archival footage organically to create a vivid and ornate palimpsest, touching on themes of race, Empire, migration, and performance.” Runner up was SAFT by Mona Keil.

The Triple Axel Competition or Dreifacher Axel Wertbewerb of 1000 Euros went to SHINING by Kumaran Herold and using clips from Stanley Kubrick’s eponymous 1980 film. Candidates in this section may be no longer than three minutes.

The ARTE Award went to A HUMAN CERTAINITY by Morgan Quaintance. It uses monologues (in writing), stills, as well as moving images, and written text to discuss separation, death, and loss. The film concerns an unsuccessful love and takes place on an empty beach. It is accompanied by pop music from The Turbans, Jimmy Scott and Charles Dodge. Director Quaintance relied on his own grandmother for inspiration. ARTE paid 6000 Euros for the rights to the film which will then be shown on the ARTE TV channel under “Kurzschluss.”

PINK RIDER by Daniel Aquirre won the Publikumspreis (Audience Award) of 1500 Euros. This Swedish documentary, supported by Swedish punk music, presents today’s "gig" economy, here represented by a bike delivery person. Gig economy features temporary or freelance jobs, with both advantages and disadvantages for the worker. PINK RIDER also won the Audience Award at the Tampere Film Festival in Finland.

Hamburg’s Short Film Candidate for the European Film awards is DAWN (MADRUGADA) by Leonor Noivo. In this Portuguese film Noivo presents a docu-fiction about the connection between women, work and desires, particularly in repetitive jobs such as house cleaning, as well as the endless routine of daily life. The jury says, “It’s an intimate portrait of a generation of women exploring the corrupt transfer of communication of unsolved feelings of desire.” Interesting is the description in International Movie Data Base which says, “Maria starts to show signs of wanting to belong somewhere else: scales appear on her skin, roots appear on her legs, and she hears the sound of water - she dreams of being a fish.” Maria’s daughter sees that her mother has disappeared; she attempts to remember last impressions in order to explain her mother’s disappearance. Runner up is HAULOUT by Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbuaev. This year’s European Film Awards Presentation will take place in Reykjavik, Iceland, on December 10, 2022.

Mo&Friese Junges Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg (Young Shortfilm Festival Hamburg)

The following prizes were awarded:

Friese-Preis (Friese Award) went to IDODO by Ursula Ulmi with special mention going to THE FANTASTIC FLYING COMPETITION by John Croezen.

MO-Preis (Mo Award) went to IN DER NATUR by Marcel Barelli. Special mention went to POCKET CALL by Wassili Franko and Paul Spengemann.

The Neon-Preis (Neon Award) went to BORN IN DAMASKUS by Laura Wadha. Special mention went to DATSUN by Mark Albiston.

Nominated for the ECFA Short Film Award (ECFA Kurzfilm Preis) is LUCE UND DER STEIN by Britt Raesh.

Winner of the Gib Mir 5!(High Five!) Competition is SEI KEINE FLASCHE by Frieda Durago (who also won last year with I AM ME). Runners up were LE TRAIN submitted by Filmkids.ch and KÖNNEN KATZEN FLIEGEN by Jessica Leenay & Fatma.