Awards – Merlinka festival 2017

by

SHORT FILM JURY MEMBERS: Dimitrije Vojnov (Serbian Screenwriter), Barbara Reumuller (Identities Queer Film Festival – Vienna), Werner Borkes (Roze Filmdagen – Amsterdam)

Best Short Film

Nominated:
The Fish Curry (dir. Abhishek Verma)
Approaching (dir. Tereza Pospíšilová)
Scar tissue (dir. Nish Gera)
Diamante, o Bailarina (dir. Pedro Jorge)
Shala (dir. Joao Inacio)

Winner: The Fish Curry (dir. Abhishek Verma)

India, 2017
12 min

A young man decides to come-out to his parents. He is in love with a man, his very own roommate. He plans his day by cooking his father’s favorite dish, the traditional fish curry and that by learning from a famous radio cook show.

Special mention

Approaching
Director:
 Tereza Pospíšilová
Czech Republic, 2016
30 min

Teenage Roma boy Martin is on the run from home. The only other passenger in the train compartment, is an old man, the last person from whom would Martin expect to find some understanding. Yet slowly they find soul mate in each other. But Martin’s reasons for leaving home are much more complicated, than the old man could ever imagine.

Noizzmaker Award by Noizz.rs

Slutnja anđela
Director:
 Branislav Princip
Serbia, 2017
26 min

Short documentary about Dejan Nebrigic, the first Serbian gay activist that was murdered in 1999.

Special award

Quiero decirte
Director: Stefan M. Mladenovic
Serbia, 2017
17 min

There is a maze which is too difficult to get out from. In the search of the road, Alejandro met with the army of nine soldiers. First, the secret. Second, the fear. Third, the dream. Fourth, the fantasy. Fifth, the color. Sixth, the happiness. Seventh, the freedom. Eighth, the love. Ninth, the reality. What happens when he get out of the maze? Life.

 

FEATURE AND DOCUMENTARY JURY MEMBERS: Dragan Jovicevic (Culture Editor in NIN weekly), Đorđe Bajić (Film critic), Zoran Janković (Film critic), Lazara Marinković (Journalist), Dunja Nešović (Film Student)

Best Documentary

Nominated:
Bones of Contention (dir. Andrea Weiss)
Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution (dir. Yony Leyser)
Divine Divas (dir. Leandra Leal)
Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami (dir. Sophie Fiennes)

Winner: Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution (dir. Yony Leyser)

Germany, USA, 2017
Documentary
83 min

What happens when the community you need is not the community you have? Tell yourself it exists over and over, make fan zines that fabricate hordes of queer punk revolutionaries, create subversive movies, and distribute those movies widely—and slowly, the community you’ve fabricated might become a real and radical heartbeat that spreads internationally. This is the story that Queercore tells, from the start of a pseudo-movement in the mid-1980s, intended to punk the punk scene, to the widespread rise of artists who used radical queer identity to push back equally against gay assimilation and homophobic punk culture. Interviewees discuss homophobia, gender, feminism, AIDS, assimilation, sex, and, of course, art. The extensive participant list includes Bruce LaBruce, G.B. Jones, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, John Waters, Justin Vivian Bond, Lynn Breedlove, Silas Howard, Pansy Division, Penny Arcade, Kathleen Hanna, Kim Gordon, Deke Elash, Tom Jennings, Team Dresch, and many more.

Best Feature Film

Nominated:
Lavina (dir. Stanislav Tomic)
120 BPM (Robin Campillo)
The Misandrists (dir. Bruce LaBruce)
Tom of Finland (dir. Dome Karukoski)
Fuck You Jessica Blair (dir. Karni Haneman)

Winner: 120 Beats per Minute (dir. Robin Campill)

Cast: Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Arnaud Valois, Adèle Haenel
France, 2017
140 min

Nathan is a young man who joins an AIDS activist group in 1990s Paris. As he attends the weekly meetings, he learns that some members prefer a more radical approach to their protests.