Two awards for Koza at Vilnius FF
The closing of the jubilee 20th edition of the Kino Pavasaris Vilnius FF (March 19 - April 2, 2015) was a successful evening the the debut feature by Ivan Ostrochovský Koza (2015).
The film, presented in the New Europe - New Names Competition section, competing with nine other titles, was introduced at the festival by the director himself. The international Jury with members Paolo Bertolin (Venice IFF, Italy), Vlad Ivanov (actor, Romania), Esin Küçüktepepinar (Istanbul FF, Turkey), Cristián Jiménez (director, shile) and Hadas Yaron (actress, Israel) decided to grant the film with the award for Best Film, describing the film as a "delicate and moving film about the journey of a loser trying to win back something he might have lost for good. The restrained and documentary-like visual and narrative approach of the director magnify the emotional power of this tale of (failed) redemption".
The film also received the Art Cinema Award granted by the C.I.C.A.E. / International Confederation of Art Cinemas (a confederation bringing together around 3 000 screens from 24 countries), which was given by the three-member jury of Grégory Le Perff (Dieppe Scène Nationale, France), Claus Löser (Brotfabrik Kino, Germany) and Michał Matuszewski (KINO.LAB, Poland). The jury decided to appreciate the film for "finding a successful way in showing tragic story with sense of humor and balance between fiction and tough reality". It also stated, that it "will be a pleasure to share this unusual road movie with all art-house exhibitors all over the world".
After a successful start of the film at the 65th Berlinale in February this year, it is the first festival and award for Koza and follows the success of Slovak films at Vilnius FF last year, when Miracle by Juraj Lehotský received the award for Best Actress (Michaela Bendulová) and Pandas by Matú Vizár came home with the Best Short Film award.
Koza was recently also introduced at the 39th Hong Kong IFF and its festival career will continue at goEast Wiesbaden, IndieLisboa, Neisse FF or JeonJu IFF in the following days.
More information at:
www.kinopavasaris.lt
www.kozamovie.com
http://cicae.org/en/
Related AIC articles:
Slovak Films at Vilnius FF 2015
Slovak Films at Vilnius FF 2014
published: 09.04.2015
updated: 30.04.2015