Propeller of Motovun goes to War Pony by Riley Keough and Gina Gammell • In 5 days of the festival, 131 films, dozens of volunteers and thousands of visitors marched through Motovun’s theaters and alleys
The bitter-sweet moment has arrived: Motovun Film Festival must once again say goodbye to its spectacular audience. After almost a week of pure pleasure, great films, hilarious games, workshops and panel discussions, the town’s main square hosted the traditional closing night that included the award presentation ceremony and traditional toast followed by the screening of Wild Men by Thomas Daneskov.
The festival’s main award, the Propeller of Motovun, went to War Pony, a film by Riley Keough and Gina Gammell. This unique film follows the lives of young members of the Lakota tribe, interpreted by non-professional actors. The main jury that chose the winner consisted of Piotr Domalewski, Goran Dukić and the last year’s Propeller of Motovun laureate Ninja Thyberg. According to the jury, it is “an honest and masterfully crafted film, with incredible acting all the way through. Equally as brutal as sweet, always loyal to the main protagonists and their world.”
The award of the FIPRESCI jury went to The Sacred Spirit by Chema García Ibarra. Pointing out that their task was very hard, the jury members Midhat Ajanović, Tim Lindemann and Marko Stojiljković explained their unanimous decision: “This year we were lucky to find one film that stands out for its originality, its stark contrasts between the warmth of the color scheme and fondness towards its characters on one side and the darkness of its plot on the other, between its retro design and the clear, on-the-point understanding of the contemporary world, and for the deadpan humor it is lusciously garnished with.”
The Motovun Shorts jury decided that their award should go to the animated film Ice Merchants by the Portuguese filmmaker João Gonzalez. “This animated film left us speechless with tears in our eyes. With its complexity, the film works on many layers, from love and loss to global economy and environmental cataclysm. All these important issues are sculpted with such subtleness and craft both in narrative and in style. This poetic piece of art deserves to become a part of a permanent exhibition in every museum of modern art,” said, among other things the FIPRESCI jury members Jing Hasse, Mo Harawe and Andrej Korovljev. A special mention went to Dorma by Alcibiade Cohen. Corto Montonese, the award for Best Croatian Short Film, went to Lana Barić for her Snow White.
In 5 days of the festival, 112 films, dozens of volunteers and thousands of visitors marched through Motovun’s theaters and alleys. The musical segment of the festival included not just concerts, but also films dealing with music. The Sinkauz brothers deserve credit for an unforgettable musical experience: they performed their own original score that accompanied the screening of the iconic Swedish film The Witches: Witchcraft Through the Ages, that celebrates its centennial this year.
Those who missed the festival winner War Pony will have another opportunity to watch it – in Cinema Billy at 23.00.
Before you return to the daily humdrum while awaiting the next edition of the festival, make sure to come and hear the Cinkuši band, both in the film Even Pigs Go to Heaven (for which they wrote the music and appear in it) and at the concert after the screening. See you again!
