.: 1st Prize:

“Procesul / The trial” by Mona Vatamanu and Florin Tudor (RO/CH)

.: 2nd Prize:

“Indocumentado / Undocumented” by Edgar Endress (CL)

.: 3rd Prize:

“Granny” by Özlem Sulak (TR)

.: Statement on the Prize Awards

1st Prize

“Procesul / The trial” by Mona Vatamanu and Florin Tudor is a particular convincing video work whose minimal formal and linguistic construction force the viewer into an in-depth handling of the themes examined, and opens unexpected philosophical, political, and psychological dimensions.
This is achieved through an unexpected combination of visual and acoustic layerings.
On a visual level, the montage displays a continuous, monotonous panorama view of the socialistic block architecture that was developed under the Ceaucescu-Era; simultaneously, the voice over reads out a synthesized transcript of the Ceaucescus’ trial.
This dual and continual experience of repetition and stagnation creates a sense of diffuse discomfort and the desire to overcome this political lethargy increases as the film moves forward. The viewer is confronted to the basic question about the relationship of political attitude and aesthetic manifestation.

2nd Prize

The documentary nature of “Indocumentado / Undocumented” that relates the destiny of a Peruvian fugitive crossing the Bolivian border is undermined throughout the video by signs of oscillation between reality and fiction The generated tension between these categories leads to the interesting question of the authenticity of a “documentary” narration that is mounted by the artist Edgar Endress through a combination of found footage and new shootings.
In “Indocumentado”, the individual dimension of the story is reflected through manifestations of daily-social uncertainty in the work. Thus, authenticity becomes a question about “facts” and “fiction” on a social level.

3rd Prize

In “Granny”, Özlem Sulak succeeds in an unprecedented short amount of time (9 minutes) to condense a piece of history (the forced migration of Muslims from Yugoslavia to Turkey) by interviewing her grandmother and great aunt. Through their charming-ironical way of narrating these dramatic events that took place in their childhood, both protagonists allow the observer to get a real sense of these life changing events.
Sulak plays with the expectations of the observer. Religious, ethnic and demographic prejudices are made apparent through constructed images that make leaps in time. The question of personal vision, which goes unnoticed to begin with, emerges as the work unfolds.

.: Jury Members

Nathalie Angles, Marc Glöde, Birgit Kohler, Harm Lux, Ivica Pinjuh, Sven Wörner, Peter Zorn.