Louise Carrin’s Venusia takes top prize at Oberhausen

The 62nd International Short Film Festival Oberhausen came to a close this week with a win for Swiss filmmaker Louise Carrin. Her film Venusia (pictured above), which won the Grand Prize of the City of Oberhausen, is a documentary about an owner of a luxurious brothel and her friend. The film was described by the jury as “A film that, by simple means in a single room, creates a whole universe. A static double portrait opens up to a dynamic landscape of the contemporary human condition.”

The Festival’s ‘Prinicpal Prize’ was won by the renowned Philippine filmmaker Lav Diaz for his short Ang araw bago ang wakas [The Day Before The End], a film which takes a look at the Philippines in 2015. It was described by the jury as “…a work of political urgency.”

Other winners including artist/filmmaker Laure Prouvost whose film If It Was won the FIPRESCI Prize and the French film 489 Years , which looks at the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. German filmmaker and artist Vika Kirchenbauer won the festival’s ‘Prize for the best contribution to the German Competition’ for She Whose Blood Is Clotting In My Underwear.

The full list of winners is:

Grand Prize of the City of Oberhausen (8,000 Euros)

Venusia (Dir. Louise Carrin, Switzerland 2015)

Principal Prize (4,000 Euros)

Ang araw bago ang wakas [The Day Before The End] (Dir. Lav Diaz, Philippines 2015)

e-flux Prize (3,000 Euros)

Mains Propres (Washed Hands) (Dir. Louise Botkay, Brazil, 2015)

Special Mentions

Centre of the Cyclone (Dir. Heather Trawick, Canada/USA 2015)
20 July.2015 (Dir. Deimantas Narkevičius, Lithuania, 2016)

Jury of the Ministry for Family, Children, Youth, Culture and Sport of North Rhine-Westphalia

1st Prize (5,000 Euros)

489 Years (Dir. Hayoun Kwon, France 2016)

2nd Prize (3,000 Euros)

If It Was (Dir. Laure Prouvost, Great Britain 2015)

The International Critics’ Prize (FIPRESCI Prize)

If It Was (Dir. Laure Prouvost, Great Britain 2015)

Prize of the Ecumenical Jury (1,500 Euros)

489 Years (Dir. Hayoun Kwon, France 2016)

ZONTA Prize (1,000 Euros to a female filmmaker in the International or German Competition)

Eleganssi [Elegance] (Dir. Virpi Suutari, Finland 2015)

Prize for the best contribution to the German Competition (5,000 Euros)

She Whose Blood Is Clotting In My Underwear (Dir. Vika Kirchenbauer, Germany 2016)

3sat Promotional Award (2,500 Euros

Telefon Santrali (Dir. Sarah Drath, Germany, 2016)

Special Mention

Sites (Dir. Volker Schreiner, Germany 2015)

Prize for the best contribution to the NRW Competition (1,000 Euros)

Ocean Hill Drive (Dirs. Miriam Gossing & Lina Sieckmann, Germany 2016)

Promotional Award of the NRW Competition (500 Euros)

Das Leben ist hart (Dir. Simon Schnellmann, Germany 2015)

Prize of the West ART Audience Jury (750 Euros)

Ein Aus Weg [Loophole] (Dirs. Simon Steinhorst & Hannah Lotte Stragholz, Germany 2016)

Prize of the Children's Jury (1,000 Euros)

Hugo Bumfeldt (Dir. Éva Katinka Bognár, Hungary 2015)

evo Promotional Award of the Children's Jury (1,000 Euros)

Novembre (Dir. Marjolaine Perreten, France/Switzerland 2015)

Special Mention

Boy-Razor (Dir. Peter Pontikis, Sweden 2015)

Prize of the Guest Jury of the International Children’s Film Festival Filem’on, Brussels

Bounce (Dir. D.C. Barclay/Rory Lowe, Great Britain 2015)

Prize of the Youth Jury (1,000 Euros)

Viaduc (Dir. Patrice Laliberté, Canada 2015)

Special Mention

Pieniä kömpelöitä hellyydenosoituksia [Clumsy Little Acts of Tenderness] (Dir. Mila Tervo
Finland 2015)

Certificate of the Ecumenical Jury for a film in the International Children's and Youth Film Competition

Viaduc (Dir. Patrice Laliberté, Canada 2015)