Deadline_Award

Our winning film is a pure genre entry – but at the same time, it’s so much more. On the one hand, it’s a film about living corpses. On the other, it’s also, above all, a film about what makes us human.
While it contains all the elements of a typical zombie film, it doesn’t use them to tell just another typical story from a familiar genre. Rather, it deconstructs and transforms this genre as a whole – primarily by choosing a radically different perspective.
We know of no other film that is so consistently told from the perspective of a – female – zombie. And in doing so, it puts us directly in her battered shoes: Her disorientation, her limited sensory perceptions, her lack of understanding of the situation she finds herself in are brought to life through exceptional sound design and camera work that consistently stays extremely close to the character. Furthermore, the film intelligently plays with roles that, at first glance, seem clearly defined. Human and monster, perpetrator and victim, hunter and prey: who is who here is surprisingly open to reinterpretation in the course of a non-linear narrative.
In a very competitive field, this film isn’t the obvious winner. However, it deeply impressed us – and touched us emotionally – with its unusual narrative perspective, its clever narrative strategy, and the outstanding performance of its lead actress. Never before have we felt so much sympathy for an undead creature: one of the most unusual and complex zombie films in a long time.