Vienna awards to The Rabbit Hunt, I'm Not From Here and Everything

The biggest winner of this year's edition of Vienna Shorts Festival, which concluded last Tuesday, was Peter Bresnan’s The Rabbit Hunt, which received two main prizes - the Vienna Shorts Film Award for the Fiction & Documentary programme, and the Jury Prize for best documentary. I’m Not from Here was awarded the VIS Award for best female director, or two directors in this case - Maite Alberdi and Giedre Zickyte. David O'Reilly's Everything won the Jury Prize in the Animation Avantgarde category, while the same award for a fiction film went to Gabriel Abrantes' A Brief History of Princess X. Both O'Reiily and Abrantes' films can now be put forward for the Academy Awards by virtue of their win.

In the national competition, the key VIS Award for the best Austrian film went to Veronika Schubert’s satire In Erster Linie (First and Foremost).

Bresnan’s The Rabbit Hunt is a sharp documentary about the marginalized African American population in rural Florida. In his acceptance speech, Bresnan admitted that it is not a good time to be from the US. The Rabbit Hunt was acknowledged for the second time when it received the Jury Prize for best documentary. The jury, consisting of Director's Fortnight programmer Laurence Reymond, vimeo's Director of Curation Sam Morell, and UK film critic Neil Young, stated that the film provides a timely glimpse into the tough, but sometimes joyful realities of the rural United States at one of the most turbulent-and increasingly alarming-points in its history.

FULL LIST OF AWARDS

FICTION & DOCUMENTARY
VIENNA SHORT FILM AWARD 2017 - Best International Fiction & Documentary Film
The Rabbit Hunt (US) by Patrick Bresnan
Awarded € 4,000 by the City of Vienna

VIENNA SHORT FILM AWARD 2017 - Best Female Director
I'm Not from Here (CL, DK, IT, LT) by Maite Alberdi & Giedrė Žickytė
awarded € 1,000 by the Elfi Dassanowsky Foundation

ANIMATION AVANTGARDE
ASIFA AUSTRIA AWARD 2017 - Best Animation Avantgarde film
Casino (CA) by Steven Woloshen
Awarded € 2,000 by ASIFA Austria

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE STIPEND 2017 - Special Achievement
Orogenesis (ES) by Boris Labbé
Granted by MuseumsQuartier / Q21 with € 1.050 & a one-month stay in Vienna

Special Mention - Animation Avantgarde
Impossible Figures and Other Stories II (PL) - Marta Pajek

NATIONAL COMPETITION
VIENNA SHORT FILM AWARD 2017 - Best Austrian film
In Erster Linie (AT) by Veronika Schubert
Awarded € 5.000 by VdFS Austrian Association of Filmmakers and Vienna Tourist Board

VIENNA SHORT FILM AWARD 2017 - Best Newcomer
Good Luck, Orlo! (HR/SI/AT) by Sara Kern
Granted € 2,000 by VAM Audiovisual Media Association
VIENNA SHORT FILM AWARD 2017 - Youth Jury Prize - Best Austrian Film
Bier & Calippo (AT) by Paul Ploberger
Awarded by LISTO with a €1,000 postproduction voucher

Special Mention - Austrian Competition
Wannabe (DE/AT) by Jannis Lenz

SCREENSESSIONS / MUSIC VIDEOS
VIENNA SHORT FILM AWARD 2017 - Austrian Music Video Award
Bulletproof - VENTIL (AT) by Florian Kindlinger & Peter Kutin
Awarded by the FAMA Association of the Film and Music Industries with € 1,000

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE STIPEND 2017 - Best International Music Video
Territory - The Blaze (FR) by Guillaume & Jonathan Alric
Awarded by MuseumsQuartier / Q21 with € 1.050 & a one-month stay in Vienna

JURY PRIZES
JURY PRIZE - Fiction
A Brief History of Princess X (FR/GB/PT) by Gabriel Abrantes
Qualifies for the Academy Awards® in the category LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

JURY PRIZE - Animation
Everything (IE/US) by David OReilly
Qualifies for the Academy Awards® in the category ANIMATED SHORT FILM

JURY PRIZE - Documentary
The Rabbit Hunt (US) by Patrick Bresnan
Qualifies for the Academy Awards® in the category DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

VIS AUDIENCE AWARDS 2017
And So We Put Goldfish in the Pool (JP) by Nagahisa Makoto
Prix Très chic pour le film le plus extraordinaire
Im Wohnzimmer (AT) by Alexander Gratzer

EACH COMPETITION'S MOST POPULAR FILMS
Fiction & Documentary - And So We Put Goldfish In the Pool (JP) by Nagahisa Makoto
Animation Avantgarde - Decorado (FR/ES) by Alberto Vazquez
National Competition - All the Tired Horses (AT) by Sebastian Mayr
Screensessions - Gosh - Jamie xx (FR/GB) by Romain Gavras

By  Marija Jeremić