Awarded Films PFF 2019
The awards for Best Feature Film and Best Short Film on PFF 2019 have been announced at the Closing Ceremony of the 9. Philosophical Film Festival held on 16 May in the Cinematheque of N. Macedonia.
In the Official Selection of Feature Films, the Jury Award for Best Feature Film on PFF 2019 goes in the hands of Osman Nail Doğan, director of THE PIGEON THIEVES (Turkey) and the Audience Award for Best Feature Film on PFF 2019 to 8 MINUTES AND 19 SECONDS, an omnibus films by T.Ushev, P.Valchanov, K.Grozeva, V.Lyutskanov, L.Mladenov and N.Koseva based on the short stories of the famous Bulgarian writer Georgi Gospodinov. The jury for the Official Selection of Feature Films was comprised of Milcho Manchevski (film director), Dr. David Sorfa (profesor on film studies) and Dr. Boshko Karadjov (profesor of philosophy).
The Jury Award for Best Short Film on the 9th edition of the Philosophical Film Festival went to NIGHT TALK WITH A HANGMAN by Yakov Sivchenko (Russia). TEA by Shokir Kholikov (Uzbekistan) won the Audience Award for Best Short Film and a Special Mention by the Jury. MONDAY by Sebastião Salgado, in the Official Selection of Short Films, also received a Special Mention by the Jury. The jury for the Official Selection of Short Films was comprised of Dr. Gabriella Calchi Novati (scholar), Naum Trajanovski (PhD) and Ivo Baru (film director).
The Philosophical Film Festival and the Philosophical Society of Macedonia congratulate all the directors, producers, and all their crews!
Jury Award for Best Feature Film on PFF 2019
THE PIGEON THIEVES (2018)
Feature film, Turkey, 82 min, color
Director: Osman Nail Doğan
16-year-old Mahmut’s life consists of feeding pigeons and making money from stealing others’ pigeons. His biggest dream is to have the best pigeons. One day, one of his pigeons escapes and does not return. When Mahmut finds a pigeon nesting on a roof, he meets Ismail, an 8-year-old living in that house. This meeting becomes one of the most important turning points that will affect both lives…
THE PIGEON THIEVES, the first feature film of the director which was part of the Official Selection of the 24. Sarajevo Film Festival is a film about growing, maturing and rising into life. A warm story about friendship and the passions of youth, seen through the specific prism of the culture of living in Anatolia. And as the director Doğan asks, speaking about the film, the dilemma is in front of us: “What is good, and what is bad? Can you be good behaving badly?“ Or, how can a person be good if life is ruthless and cruel, people are heartless and selfish, and the world is foreign and cold?
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/291397212
Website: http://www.sinansertel.com
Audience Award for Best Feature Film on PFF 2019
8’19” (2018)
Feature film, Bulgaria, 85 min, color
Directors: Theodore Ushev, Petar Valchanov, Kristina Grozeva, Vladimir Lyutskanov, Lyubomir Mladenov, Nadejda Koseva
An omnibus film based on short stories by the most translated contemporary Bulgarian author Georgi Gospodinov and directed by 6 different directors from Bulgaria. The minute you start watching this film, the sun may already have gone out, but you won’t know it yet. 8 minutes and 19 seconds – that’s all the time we have until the news about the death of the Sun reaches us. That’s what it takes for the light to travel from there to here. And then the darkness comes…
But the theme of this Apocalypse is not necessarily going to be expressed through a global cataclysm, angels of death, fire, and destruction. It will rather be shown as something very personal, intimate and almost silent. The narrative mosaic of 8 MINUTES AND 19 SECONDS will introduce the focal point of this anthology: the sense of mortality, the minute before the end, our feeble existence and the fear that comes with knowing all of that.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/HdKVHzkkuog
Website: https://vipmedia.me/portfolio_page/8-минути-и-19-секунди
Jury Award for Best Short Film on PFF 2019
NIGHT TALK WITH A HANGMAN (2018)
Feature film, Russia, 20 min., b&w
Director: Yakov Sivchenko
Inspired by the novella “The Judge and His Hangman” by the Swiss playwright Friedrich Durrenmatt, this dark drama with a twist of crime-fiction takes us on a night walk with our final, inevitable interlocutor. An unusual satire that raises existentialist questions.
Audience Award for Best Short Film & Special Jury Mention on PFF 2019
TEA (2018)
Short film, Uzbekistan, 15 min., color
Director: Shokir Kholikov
Trailer: https://youtu.be/qU7JEXy1-KA
Special Jury Mention in the Official Selection of Short Films on PFF 2019
