Awards – Merlinka festival 2021

Awards in six categories have been presented on the last night of 13th Merlinka film festival in Belgrade. The categories are: Best short film, Best Documentary, Best Feature Film, Best Animated Film, Best Serbia Film and Special Award.

SHORT FILM JURY MEMBERS: Antony Hickling (Director), Stefan Langthaler (Director), Gvozden Ilić (Director)

Nominated:
God’s Daughter Dances (dir. Sungbin Byun)
The Night Train (dir. Jerry Carlsson)
Path of a ghost (dir. Namo Safideen)
Escaping the fragile planet (dir. Thanasis Tsimpinis)
On my way (dir. Sonam Larcin)
Madonna f64.0 (dir. Stavros Markoulakis)

Best short film: Path of Ghost

Director: Namo Safideen
Country of Origin: Sweden
Duration: 11 minutes
Short films

An elderly and socially awkward lone wolf, Einar Svensson, decides to pursue his chance of finding true love one last time by signing up to a speed dating event. After a while, Einar’s insecurities begin to influence his behavior on each date.

Jury statement:

Our winner this year is a sensitive and fragile film. It’s subject is not often touched and it’s done in a simple, effective and strong way. The lead character is moving and his feeling of loneliness transcends the boundaries of age, socio-economic status and sexual orientation, turning it into a universal cry. It’s an unheard voice that we as Jury want to give more volume and it’s a great film made with not much, but with honesty and very much heart. That is good filmmaking. Congratulations to “Path of a Ghost”, our “Best International Short” at Merlinka 2021.

Special Mention: The Night Train (dir. Jerry Carlsson)

Jury statement:

The jury would like to acknowledge another film. The special mention goes to a film that depicts passion and longing in such a profound way, it demonstrates true directorial strength and creates a small universe of its own inside a train compartment. Congratulations to “The night train” by Jerry Carlsson.

DOCUMENTARY FILM JURY MEMBERS: Marcelo Diaz (Director), Goran Mitrović (Editor)

Nominated:
Cured (dir. Bennet Singer, Patrick Sammon)
Threshold (dir. Coraci Ruiz)
Trans – I have life (dir. Doris Metz, Imogen Kimmel)
Canela (dir. Cecillia del Valle)
Seyran Ateş: Sex, Revolution and Islam (dir. Nefise Ozkal Lorentzen)

Best documentary: Seyran Ateş: Sex, Revolution and Islam

Director: Nefise Özkal Lorentzen
Country of Origin: Norway
Duration: 81 minutes
Documentary

In the 1960s, the hippies championed the idea of a sexual revolution. They received neither Fatwas nor bodyguards. Today, Seyran Ateş – a Turkish- German lawyer, feminist, and one of the first female imams in Europe – is fighting for a sexual revolution within Islam. In return, she was shot, received fatwas and death threats, and now has to live under constant police protection. Seyran believes the only way to fight against radical Islam is through Islam, which is why, in her liberal mosque, there is no gender segregation or exclusion based on sexual orientation. This is the story of Seyran’s personal and ideological fight for the modernization of Islam. Her quest for change takes her on a journey around the world, meeting with different people connected through faith, from sex workers in a German brothel to Uyghur LGBTQ youth and traditional female imams in China. It is also a journey through Seyran’s life, from her humble beginnings as a Muslim girl in Turkey’s slums to a female leader daring to challenge her own religion. Seyran rebels against extremism and hate in the name of peace and love.

Jury statement:

The film presents a unique narrative based on elaborate aesthetics and connected with the spirit of the protagonist, giving voice to an inclusive and welcoming faith, with female leadership.

FEATURE FILM JURY MEMBERS: Dušan Kaličanin (Actor), Zoran Pajić (Actor)

Nominated:
Swan Song (dir. Todd Stephens)
Nowhere (dir. David Salazar, Francisko Salazar)
The Swimmer (dir. Adam Kalderon)
Bruno Reidal (dir. Vincent Le Port)
Down in Paris (dir. Antony Hickling)
Private Desert (dir. Aly Muritiba)
Sweetheart (dir. Marley Morrison)
Jump, darling (dir. Phil Connell)

Best feature film: Private Desert

Director: Aly Muritiba
Country of Origin: Brazil
Duration: 125 minutes
Featured films

It is based on a police who is suspended after an internal investigation, wandering the country in search of a real encounter with his internet love.

Jury statement:

A film that questions the everyday life of the main characters after an unexpected encounter. Through anger, disappointment, the protagonist, inspired by a forbidden relationship, connects with himself and his emotions. Two lives stuck between the possible and the impossible, between two worlds – conservative and progressive, led by the delicate acting of Antonio Sabol, results in a film that re-examines the concept of personal freedom in the cages we lock ourselves!

ANIMATED FILM JURY: Dragan Jovićević (Screenwriter), Mirela Srebrić (Director and animator), Kristian Ranđelović (Activist)

Nominated:
Men in Blue: 12 stories (dir. Francisco Bianchi)
Interview with a ClayFaggor (dir. Justin Couto)
Everyone has my jacket (dir. Russel Atkinson)
In Nature (dir. Marcel Barelli)
The Sappho Project: Fragment 147 (dir. Sari Katharyn)
The Crown with a shadow (dir. JB Ghuma Jr)
All Those Sensations in My Belly (dir. Marko Djeska)

Best Animated film: In Nature

Director: Marcel Barelli
Country of Origin: Switzerland
Duration: 5 minutes
Animated film

In nature, a couple is a male and a female. Well, not always! A couple is also a female and a female. Or a male and a male. You may not know it, but homosexuality isn’t just a human story.

Jury statement:

One film stood out in this year’s selection of otherwise extraordinary animated films. This film humorously shows how much nature shows diversity and color and content. The film represents a world around us that we are not even aware of to what extent it is similar to us, but in which diversity is not understood as an abnormality.

Special Mention: All Those Sensations in My Belly (dir. Marko Djeska)

Jury statement:

For an extremely balanced relationship between animation and the theme, technology and storytelling technique, the jury gives special mention to the Croatian film ALL THESE SENSATIONS IN MY BELLY by Marko Djeska

Nominated:
Terezini sinovi (dir. Stanko Gagrčin)
Animus (dir. Milica Spasojević)
Kraljica Prajda (dir. Jovan Ilić)
Pustoš (dir. Petar Lakić)
Plašio sam se tvojih cipela kad sam bio mali (dir. Balša Leković)

Best Serbian Film: Plašio sam se tvojih cipela kad sam bio mali

Director: Balša Leković
Country of Origin: Serbia
Duration: 27 minutes

Marko is a 19-year-old boy who did not enroll in college immediately after graduating from high school. After asking his mother to pay for his examination by a private doctor because he became ill, she refers him to his father, who is a doctor. Marko has not seen him for a long time and by visiting him for the first time he fully understands how much their relationship affects Marko’s needs, love and freedom.

Special Award: Kelti

Director: Milica Tomović
Country of Origin: Serbia
Duration: 106 minutes

Winter, 1993. Bill Clinton is elected president. Audrey Hepburn dies. Wars following the breakup of socialist Yugoslavia are continued in Croatia and Bosnia. Belgrade is under sanctions and inflation that threaten to become hyperinflation. MOTHER wakes up on a day when she has to do all the preparation for her younger daughter’s birthday party – cooking awaits her, guests await her and dirty dishes await her, when the night is over. After a full year of not having sex with her husband, Mother introduced masturbation in her everyday routine.