Honorable mentions of the Jury
BYE BEAR
Deutschland 2023, 11 Minuten / Regie Jan Bitzer
Who am I? And what am I? Looking in the mirror can actually help here – because then we see what Shakespeare, Hildegard von Bingen, and everyone else described as the gateway to the soul: our eyes.
But that’s precisely what we never see in the animated film to which we want to give our honorable mention. Animal masks with hollows instead of eyes are slipped onto heads, and just as the nameless main character stands in front of the mirror with a bear mask and brushes his fur, we as the audience stare into space for 10 minutes. And search for what supposedly distinguishes us as humans from everything else in the world: the soul.
But what if consciousness, longing, or excess aren’t exclusively reserved for us humans – and what if, in the end, it’s “just” machines behind animal masks that take on our “most natural” characteristics? What is being human, then?
This clever, technically perfect, and yet deeply moving film deeply impressed us and turned our jury meeting into a philosophical discussion.
Meat Puppet
United Kingdom 2024, 12 Minuten / Regie Eros V
One would probably have to assume that this British comedy about a demonic Muppet is the funniest short film ever made.
Everything is just right here: perfectly paced, absolutely stylishly written, directed, photographed, soundtracked, and even exceptionally colorful. The script surprises with conflicts, human errors, and charming twists – right up until the end credits.
We hope that one day the director might even conjure up a feature film from these crazy ingredients!
VIOLET
Deutschland 2024, 21 Minuten / Regie Laura Engelhardt / Kunsthochschule der Medien Köln
We would like to honor a film with an honorable mention that explores the boundaries between childhood innocence and the awakening of sexuality.
12-year-old Dan suffers from scoliosis; his body, trapped in a tight corset, experiences little affection. His mother spends endless phone calls on hold, and medical support is almost nonexistent. Only Anna, his babysitter a few years older than him, serves as a anchor, a confidant, perhaps a soul mate. But the connection between the two develops an intensity that goes beyond mere siblinghood and reaches a new level.
Director Laura Engelhardt’s film is a nuanced yet disturbing study of the complexity of human bonds, the depths of loneliness, and the longing for closeness. The film doesn’t seek blame, perhaps raising questions about responsibility, leaving the audience with the discomfort of having to find answers for themselves.
Schützenfest
Deutschland, Österreich 2024, 24 Minuten / Regie Lennart Hüper, Lennart Miketta
It’s back, the quarter-century-old debate about Germany’s “leading culture.” In 2000, it was a certain Sauerlander who coined this term—as an alternative to “multiculturalism” and as a commitment to tradition, customs, and language. The film we’d like to honor from the Dahome competition showcases a distillation of German “leading culture”: from marching music to pigeon shooting and inaccurate jokes after drinking binges. And what an irony that the film we’d like to honor lets this very Sauerlander flit across the screen for 1.2 seconds.
But why the honorable mention? Because you fall for this film so wonderfully, because you think: I already know everything I’m seeing. This is popular, perhaps even problematic, tradition with a slant toward right-wing ideology – but then comes the decisive speech that makes it clear: this community is conservative, but the firewall against the right stands, and climate protection is a collective responsibility.
It’s wonderful when a film can challenge one’s own worldview and broaden one’s perspective.
Tilt (D-A-CH Wettbewerb, Deutschland) von Björn Schürmann
The jury’s reasoning:
In it, paramedic Anna not only struggles to cope with a rescue operation that has gotten out of hand, but also against the constant discrimination by her colleague. A dense, short film that is carried entirely by the physical presence of the protagonist and at the same time has a powerful impact against male paternalism.
Kaltmiete (Beste Komödie, Deutschland) von Marc Philip Ginolas,
Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München
The jury’s reasoning:
A homeless geriatric nurse gets caught up in a series of awkward situations when, on her 100th birthday, his rich patient Geraldine dies from the joint he rolled and he tries hard to cover up her death.
With classic black-and-white images, lively dialogue and wonderful humor, “Kaltmiete” tells of the hardships of looking for an apartment and disposing of corpses.
Memoir Of A Veering Storm (Internationaler Wettbewerb, Griechenland) von Sofia Georgovassili
The jury’s reasoning:
The film manages to reimagine the topic of abortion in a touching and tender way. Embedded within the poetic framework of a brewing storm – symbolic of the abortion – the film breaks with over-dramatizing narrative patterns. Instead of showing the process with absent male figures and stigmatizing doctors, we accompany the main character’s conflict with an unagitated gaze in all its complexity.
Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München
Bato Nebo – Chants To The Gods (DaHome Award, Österreich) von Luzia Johow,
Filmakademie Wien
The jury’s reasoning:
BATO NEBO only speaks to us through the polyphonic singing of the protagonists and conveys a feeling of home through ancient traditions and impressive faces that includes the viewer.
The jury’s reasoning:
MAN OR TREE, directed by Varun Raman & Tom Hancock, is extremely funny and existentialist cinema, made with the simplest of resources. The desperate battle of a man – or tree – for his sanity. A hilarious trip!
The Seine´s Tears (Animationswettbewerb, Frankreich) von Yanis Belaid, Eliott Benard, Nicolas Mayeur, Etienne Moulin, Hadrien Pinot, Lisa Vicente, Philippine Singer, Alice Letailleur
The jury’s reasoning:
A story from history that shows its relevance especially today. Impressively animated and with a disturbing and lyrical ending scene that got under our skin.
