Before the awards are a handed out, the Jury would like to make a special mention of THE WHISPERING OF THE GODS directed by TATSUSHI OMORI, the entry from Japan, It provides an extreme and uncompromising vision of the complexity of modern Japan that at the same time is universal in its shocking impact.

The award for best first film goes to a film that with absolute clarity and perfect silences manages to weave a sensual and elemental tale about how love and desire challenges and transgresses the rigid disciplines of a young monk. The award goes to SANKARA directed by PRASANNA JAYAKODY from SRI LANKA.

The award for best director goes to a film-maker who balances this relevant tale of modern life in a cosmopolitan city with meticulous camerawork and complex characterizations. A perfect example of the art of directing. The award goes to ASGHAR FARHADI with FIREWORKS WEDNESDAY from IRAN.

The Jury has decided to give the award for best film to two films that, although telling very different stories, share remarkable similiraties in their ability to turn the marginal moments of everday life into a poetic dimension. They accomplish this by metamorphising time and space into aesthetic contemplation. Both films are a search for identity in a world where globalization is crushing us, not only on the screen but off-screen, too.

These films should also be praised for flying in the face of convention and presenting a refreshing and very necessary alternative to commercial cinema.

The award goes to FOREVER FLOWS directed by ABU SAYEED and produced by FARIDUR REZA SAGOR & EBNE HASAN KHAN from BANGLADESH and ANGEL'S FALL directed by SEMIH KAPALANOGLU and produced by KAPALAN FILMS from TURKEY!

<Back to Awards list