Although this is just the second year that the festival has adopted the MPArt.OS (Performing Arts on Screen) section, the exceptional quality and artistic value of the films, led the organisers to establish for the first time two honorary distinctions, the EDITORS’ CHOICE and the AUDIENCE CHOICE awards.
The committee, which viewed and evaluated all 118 films submitted, based on the festival’s selection criteria (the film’s relation to the performing arts, the authenticity, the artistic value, the technical excellence, the thematic, etc.), singled out a series of films that were screened on the evening of Thursday, September 22. During the screening, the audience had the opportunity to evaluate each film and vote for their favourite.
AUDIENCE CHOICE
After an enthusiastic reception and response, the festival’s audience voted for two films to receive the honorary title of AUDIENCE CHOICE:
FIST
Directed by Thomas Bos Country of Origin: Netherlands Runtime 13:00
Overview: Patrick is angry and he wants to break everything around him. When attending a forced anger-management course he meets other enraged people from different backgrounds. An experimental therapist tries to force their brutal energy out through dance. Can Patrick find a way to direct his violent energy towards something that is valuable for him, or even worthwhile for others?
ON MENDING
Directed by Shawn Fitzgerald Ahern, Emilie Louise Leriche Country of Origin: Italy Runtime 14:55
Overview: A reflection on the beauty and inevitability of impermanence, On Mending is a short dance film that follows a community’s attempt to process overwhelming loss. The film and its characters wind their way through a vast and barren alpine landscape, an abstract land of memory and nostalgia. At its root On Mending is a contemplation on support, on community, on the action of releasing what we can no longer carry with us.
EDITORS’ CHOICE
The film that the jury singled out for its artistic merit and technical excellence, as well as for the relationship between the performing arts and the cinematic language and the theme of the COMPOSITION, is awarded the honorary title EDITORS’ CHOICE:
FIST
Directed by Thomas Bos Country of Origin: Netherlands Runtime 13:00
Overview: Patrick is angry and he wants to break everything around him. When attending a forced anger-management course he meets other enraged people from different backgrounds. An experimental therapist tries to force their brutal energy out through dance. Can Patrick find a way to direct his violent energy towards something that is valuable for him, or even worthwhile for others?