The 17th Cinematik Festival knows its winners

The 17th edition of the Cinematik International Film Festival came to an end on Sunday 18th September in the evening. As every year, the competition categories were an essential part of the festival programme. Among the winners there are sound names and talented newcomers. Festival cinemas screened a total of 104 feature and short films.

The Cinematik International Film Festival has two main competitions in its programme. The international one, entitled Meeting point Europe, presents a selection of the best that has emerged in the field of European feature films over the last year. The winners are decided by an expert jury of 13 FIPRESCI film critics.

Among the nominees were also several winners of prestigious awards from world festivals and national representatives in the competition for the American Academy Awards for International Films. In the end, the Cinematik jury declared the Swedish co-production Triangle of Sadness, directed by Ruben Östlund, the winner of the Meeting Point Europe award. The Swedish director invites you on an unforgettable voyage as well as a brisk, critical analysis of the world. A couple working in modelling, Carl and Yaya, navigate the world of fashion while exploring the boundaries of their relationship. The two are invited on a luxury cruise with super-rich passengers, a Russian oligarch, British arms dealers and a peculiar, alcoholic captain who quotes Marx. At first, everything seems like something out of Instagram. But after a storm, Carl and Yaya find themselves on a deserted island with a group of billionaires and the ship’s cleaning lady. The hierarchy is turned upside down and power no longer means anything.

The festival’s audience chose their winner from all the films by voting and evaluation. The Audience Award of the 17th edition of Cinematik went to the Slovak documentary Cathedral by Denis Dobrovoda. After being expelled from a monastery, 28-year-old Spanish monk Justo Gallego decides to dedicate his life to God by building a cathedral in the forgotten village of Mejorada del Campo near Madrid. He spends the next 60 years building a church the size of the Sagrada Familia with almost no help and no knowledge of architecture. He works largely alone, using waste and recycled materials and without the consent of the other villagers, who consider him a fool.

Cinematik’s second competition, Cinematik.doc, is fishing in domestic waters – only Slovak documentary filmmakers compete for prizes with their new films. The winner of the main prize, the Cinematik.doc Literary Fund Award, is Martin Palúch with his title Countdown – The Last Film of Ivan Palúch.

The jury, which included Slovak cinematographer Norbert Hudec, Hungarian director Gyula Nemes and Czech producer Alice Tabery, evaluated the film by saying, “In purely cinematic language, the film reveals one human fate and the broader history of Czechoslovakia through the characters that Ivan Palúch portrayed in our cinema. At the same time, we hope that this will not be Martin Palúch’s last film.”

The Mayor of Piešt’any Award went to Zuzana Piussi for her documentary film Purification, which through specific stories concerning judges, businessmen and ordinary people, thematises the consequences of the loss of justice from Slovak life, which is fatal for the whole state and the democratic system. “The jury appreciated the courage and commitment that the film Purgatory brings. One of the roles of documentary filmmaking is to draw attention to society-wide problems and try to solve them.”

The Respect Award has been part of the programming and dramaturgical plan of the Cinematik Festival for many years. This year, the Cinematik International Film Festival decided to show its appreciation to one of the most important French directors of today – Lucile Hadžihalilović. The artistic director of the festival, Vladimír Štric, presented her with the Respect Award during the Slovak premiere of her latest film – Ucholak (Earwig).

The 18th Cinematik IFF will traditionally take place in September 2023.