Go Short reveals winners

After five days of films, events, special guests and cat videos the seventh edition of Go Short - the International Short Film Festival in Nijmegen in The Netherlands - was a great success.

This past weekend, Go Short announced the award winners of the European Competition, the Dutch and the Breaking Short Student Competition, and the Youth Award. 

In the European competition, the prize winning fiction film is Aïssa (Dir. Clément Tréhin-Lalanne , France, 2014) while Hotel Straussberg (Dir. Jan Soldat, Germnay, 2014) won the award for best documentary.

Director Jan Soldat said of the award: “I was happy and surprised that my film was selected for the festival, I didn’t think of winning the award!”

PLANET ∑ (Dir. Momoko Seto, France, 2014) received the award for best art film and House of Unconsciousness (Dir, Priit Tender, Estonia, 2014) was crowned  best European animated film. The youth jury gave If Mama Ain’t Happy, Nobody’s Happy (Dir. Mea de Jong , The Netherlands, 2014) the prize for the Youth Award. The Audience Award went to We Can't Live Without Cosmos (Dir. Konstantin Bronzit, Russia, 2014)

The International Jury consisted of Claire van Daal, Carmen Gray, Edmunds Jansons, Philip Ilson and Daniel Ebner. The Breaking Shorts and Dutch Competition Jury was made up of Michiel Snijders , Adela Demetja, Deben van Dam, Tuna Kaptan and Ieva Veiveryté. Finally, the Moviezone Go Short Youth Jury was comprised by Yu Jia Lejeune, Tijmen Moore, Bram Arts, Anna van Mameren and Afiya Shafiq 

The full list of award winners is:

Go Short Audience Award to the value of € 1.500,-
We Can't Live Without Cosmos
Konstantin Bronzit / animatie / Russia/ 2014 / 15’
Audiences favorites top 5: 1. We Can't Live Without Cosmos by Konstantin Bronzit 2. Meantime by Christian van Duuren 3. The Bigger Picture by Daisy Jacobs 4. Yes We Love by Hallvar Witzø 5. If Mama Ain’t Happy, Nobody’s Happy by Mea de Jong

NTR Go Short Award for Best European Short Fiction Film to the value of € 1.250,-
Aïssa Clément Tréhin-Lalanne / France / 2014 / 8’
Jury: “Refreshingly concise and socio-politically resonant with a very strong central performance, this film raised a lot of questions in a challenging way.”

NTR Go Short Award for Best European Short Documentary to the value of € 1.250,-
Hotel Straussberg Jan Soldat / Germany / 2014 / 7’
Jury: “A daring yet tender and humane observation that does not make easy spectacle of its subject matter.”

Special Mention documentary
Super Unit Teresa Czepiec / Poland / 2014 / 20’
Jury: “Thought-provoking parallels between cinema and architecture were drawn in this human and fluid portrait of an enclosed community.”

NTR Go Short Award for Best European Short Art Film to the value of € 1.250,-
PLANET ∑ Momoko Seto / France / 2014 / 12’
Jury: “A visually stunning creation of an alternate universe with an otherworldly soundscape. It merges micro and macro elements inventively.”

NTR Go Short Awards for Best European Short Animation Film to the value of € 1.250,-
House of Unconsciousness Priit Tender / Estonia / 2014 / 10’
Jury: “A feast of fantasy using rich animation language that constantly transforms in surreal ways.”

Special Mention animation film
We Can't Live Without Cosmos Konstantin Bronzit / Russia / 2014 / 15’
Jury: “A funny and nuanced twist on the heroism narrative that is also a genuinely warm tale about friendship.”

VEVAM Go Short Award for Best Dutch Short Film to the value of € 2.500,-
Among us Guido Hendrikx / The Netherlands / 2014 / 23’
Jury: “A film that puts us into the unconfortable situation between rejection of and empathy for its protagonists. The film is neither apologetic, nor is it judgemental. Through a convincing combination between form and content it showes the inner workings and twisted emotions of protagonists that we would normally instantly judge.”

Dioraphte Encouragement Award for Best Student Short Film to the value of € 5000,-
Mother Earth Piotr Zlotorowicz / Poland / 2014 / 30’
Jury: “It was impossible to ignore the power, raw emotion and impressive skill with which this film was made. We felt that the film touched on a classical theme, yet the filmmaker managed to surprise and move us within every aspect of this great piece of work.”

Special Mention student film
The Bigger Picture Daisy Jacobs / United Kingdom / 2014 / 7’
Jury: “The convincing, fluent storytelling and original animation technique of this film left no doubts about a special mention. “

Go Short Youth Award to the value of € 750,-
If Mama Ain’t Happy, Nobody’s Happy Mea de Jong / The Netherlands / 2014 / 25’ / doc
Jury: “The winning film is very special and different from all the others we have seen. The characters are spontaneous and the long conversations very interesting to watch, even with only talking heads. Time flew when watching this film. This film is the best short doc we have ever seen and we recommend it to everyone!”

Format Court Award
Among us Guido Hendrikx / The Netherlands / 2014 / 23’ / doc

Solar World Cinema Green Award
Timber Nils Hedinger / Switzerland / 2014 / 6’ / ani