Grand Prize of the City of Oberhausen

endowed with 8,000 €

A Month of Single Frames

Lynne Sachs

USA 2019, 14'12'', colour

Statement

In the age of necessary social distancing, we would like to highlight a remarkable film which fulfils the noblest vocation of art, fostering an emotional connection between people from different times and geographical locations. For the ability to find poetry and complexity in simple things, for its profound love for life and people, and for attention to detail in working with delicate matters, we decided to award the Grand Prize of the City of Oberhausen to A Month of Single Frames by Lynne Sachs.

Principal Prize

endowed with 4.000 €

Bittersweet

Sohrab Hura

India 2019, 13'48'', b/w and colour

Statement

Both unflinching and loving, Sohrab Hura's BITTERSWEET is a rumination of familial relationships and domestic spaces, exploring the bonds between himself and his mother, and his mother and her beloved dog. Hura uses his grainy flash photography to empathetically depict intimate and banal moments in the life of his mother, who suffers from acute paranoid schizophrenia, while showing the audience the power of a mother and son bond, and the healing powers of an animal's love. For his complex depictions of love, we award Sohrab Hura's BITTERSWEET the Main Prize.

e-flux Prize

endowed with 3,000 €

For an exceptional film and video work which reshapes the poetic and electric potential of moving images in the age of planetary circulation of information.

BELLA

Thelyia Petraki

Greece 2020, 24'30'', colour

Statement

For taking us on an emotional journey through space and time and for finding the way to document sincere narrative using distinct imagery, the e-flux Prize goes to BELLA by Thelyia Petraki.

Jury of the International Competition 2020

Frank Beauvais, filmmaker, France
Lerato Bereng, curator, South Africa
Dmitry Frolov, curator, Russia
Michał Matuszewski, curator, Poland
Brittany Shaw, curator, USA

First Prize of the Jury of the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia

endowed with 5,000 €

Shepherds

Teboho Edkins

France/South Africa/Germany 2020, 27'00'', colour

Statement

"The cow is culture" - A prison for shepherds in the steppes of Lesotho becomes a stage for some universal dramas of humanity. Living and surviving: what does a prison look like in a society that's not based on the principle of added value? Absurdly permeable, the fences dissolve the boundaries between the prison and the wide open landscape. In this cosmos, the delicate staging and the surreal composition of the film open an in-between space, the shepherds become the red-clad speakers of humanity, carrying the outside world into the interior of the prison.

Second Prize of the Jury of the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia

endowed with 3,000 €

Bittersweet

Sohrab Hura

India 2019, 13'48'', b/w and colour

Statement

In neutral tones, a man talks about his mother - her schizophrenia, her relationship with her dog and her manic life. In his essayistic photo film, the Indian photographer and filmmaker Sohrab Hura gives us a view of his mother that points beyond the specific narrative, by exposing the closeness, security, but also the terror and helplessness of familial relationships. A captivating cinematic montage is created from film footage and photographs documenting ten years in his mother's life; the impressive precision of his recordings and deliberate gaps determine the rhythm of a very personal family story.

Special Mention of the Jury of the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia

Gira Ancora (One More Round)

Elena Petitpierre

Switzerland 2019, 22'09'', colour

Statement

An adolescent roams his neighbourhood in Palermo. In the tradition of Neorealism, the camera lets us participate in the life of this community and at the same time shows how the rumours about his mother gradually turn him into an outsider over the course of the film. The protagonist's world contracts in ever-tighter circles.

Jury of the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia

Filippa Bauer, Germany

Lina Sieckmann & Miriam Gossing, Germany

Ruth Schiffer, Germany

Ulrike Sprenger, Germany

The International Critics’ Prize  (FIPRESCI Prize)

I am the People_I

Xiaofei Li

China 2020, 25'12'', colour

Statement

The FIPRESCI Prize goes to Xiaofei Li's I Am the People_Ⅰ, for an intelligent, slow-burning portrait of a society and its courageous, yet necessarily indirect, diagnosis of that society. Challenging traditional modes of perception, it explores the relationship between industrial production and social development

Ecumenical Jury 2020

Kodjo Ognandou Ayetan, Togo

Alexander Bothe, Germany

Dirk von Jutrczenka, Germany

Polina Kundirenko, Ukraine

Christian Olding, Germany

Milja Radovic, UK

ZONTA Prize to a female filmmaker in the International or German Competition

endowed with 1,000 €

What We Still Can Do

Nora Ananyan

Armenia/Hungary 2019, 14'34", colour

Statement

Our prize goes to a film, a filmmaker's debut film, a manifesto of empathy and solidarity: a film about the relationship between a mother and daughter in a hospice. Endless possibilities of mutual love open up at the moment of farewell.

Prize for the best contribution to the German Competition

endowed with 5,000 Euro

SUGAR

Bjørn Melhus

Germany 2019, 20'35'', b/w and colour

Statement

We award the Prize for the best contribution to the German Competition to a film that sets out to restore humanity to humankind. In a post-apocalyptic world, SUGAR meets HON, and the way this is narrated not only impressed us deeply, but was also great fun. This film is brilliantly produced, positions its subject directly but elegantly, is somehow new and exceptionally topical.

3sat-Promotional Award

endowed with 2,500 € for a contribution with a particularly innovative approach.

In addition the award includes a buying option on the awarded work to be broadcast on 3sat.

Onun Haricinde, İyiyim (Other Than That, I'm Fine)

Eren Aksu

Germany/Turkey 2020, 14'00'', colour

Statement

The scenes are lined up very evenly, though they could hardly be more different. Aesthetically, we see different formats, sometimes the frame shrinks to a segment, then it's replaced by the wobbly images of a video link. In terms of content, there are also jumps: between Turkey and Berlin, the past and the present, marble columns. Has one arrived in a country when one has one's own flat with a guest room? In Onun Haricinde, İyiyim, Eren Aksu brings all this together effortlessly, even though we feel that nothing here is effortless. His film is touching. And we want to see many more from this director.

Special Mention of the Jury of the German Competition

This Makes Me Want to Predict the Past

Cana Bilir-Meier

Germany/Austria 2019, 16'05'', b/w

Statement

Grainy black and white images evoke a supposedly bygone time when paradox demands addressed to a possible presence (and future) make an appeal to create the space needed for remembering. In her intense work Cana Bilir-Meier links the desires, doubts and wishes of young women with the hope for, at last, a society without fear. The German Competition Jury awards a Special Mention to This Makes Me Want to Predict the Past.

Jury of the German Competition 2019

Bernd Brehmer, Germany

Bettina Steinbrügge, Germany

Carolin Weidner, Germany

Prize for the best contribution to the NRW Competition

endowed with 1,000 €

Berzah

Deren Ercenk

Germany 2020, 25'45'', colour

Statement

This film and its great cinematography lock us into sophisticated, almost non-verbally staged spaces: from the isolation of a hotel room via the constricted space of a car to the steep alleys of a town on the Turkish Aegean. In Berzah, Deren Ercenk manages to tightly align three self-contained episodes into a kind of "in-between world", according to the title, and thus unfold a gripping triptych of quasi-powerless situations of fight: burning sun against burning skin. A father-daughter team against a transgressive chance encounter. Man versus wardrobe. The director plunges us into a deep pool of socio-political interpretations that have a lasting effect on us and make us curious about her next work!

Special Mention of the NRW Jury

Im toten Park (In the Dead Park)

Moritz Liewerscheidt

Germany 2019, 8'13'', colour

Statement

A poet explores his world, a small town on the Lower Rhine in the 1970s/80s, with words. His son, a filmmaker, now confronts the written words with contemporary images of that area that look like they come from the past. In this superimposition of ambiguous linguistic images with architectures, monuments, streets and parks a view of the inscribed mentality and history of the former Federal Republic of Germany unfolds. The images are as permeable as Dieter Liewerscheidt's poetry in which philosophical, pop-cultural and personal elements are intermingled.

Jury of the North Rhine-Westfalia Competition

Gunter Deller, Frankfurt

Kathrin Häger, Cologne

Marita Quaas, Cologne

WDR Westart-Jury

Maximilian Burk, Cologne

Christiane Niemann, Cologne

Katja Lüber, Cologne

evo Promotional Award of the Children's Jury

endowed with 1,000 €

sponsored by Energieversorgung Oberhausen AG (evo)

Têtard (Tadpole)

Jean-Claude Rozec

France 2019, 13'40'', colour

Statement

Our winning film is very well drawn. The animation and the sound match perfectly. We felt happy while watching, but also were annoyed with the girl. The film works, although you do not know whether it is a dream or reality. 

Special Mention of the Children's Jury

Junu Ko Jutta (The Shoe of a Little Girl)

Kedar Shrestha

Nepal 2019, 13'02'', colour

Statement

We liked that the film was very realistic and that we saw much of a different country. And we liked the music. At the end, the girl had a great idea. The story made so much sense. 

Special Mention of the Jury of the Youth Film Competition  

Warum Schnecken keine Beine haben (Why Slugs Have No Legs)

Aline Höchli

Switzerland 2019, 10'44'', colour

Statement

We really liked this film's animation and found the attention to detail, but also the complexity and creativity, particularly convincing. The film manages to depict and criticise our society in such a beautiful and gentle way, an issue which is generally important, and also close to our hearts. We were especially impressed with the accurate portrayal of our zeitgeist - chasing after money and losing touch with yourself and with nature - while avoiding the mistake of transforming it into an appeal to morality. A wonderful way of dealing with our current situation, including a touching ending that also gives us some food for thought.

Jury of the Youth Film Competition

Kimmo Doering

Lilith Laukner

Jason Michalek

ECFA Short Film Award 2020

Un lynx dans la ville (A Lynx in the Town)

Nina Bisiarina

France 2019, 6'48'', colour

Statement

This year the ECFA Short Film Award goes to a short film that offers children access to a universal story in a highly artistic setting with a profound meaning. The style of animation is fresh, minimal and at the same time playful. The director paid a lot of attention to details, colour and design. Two worlds meet in a magical moment and part again peacefully. We are taken on a journey where nature finds itself in the urban world and encounters unusual curiosity. A film that conveys empathy and excitement while taking a critical position on how to deal with Social Media.

Members of the ECFA-Jury:

Jan-Willem Bult, Netherlands

Monica Koshka-Stein, Germany

Ivana Kvesic, Switzerland

1st MuVi Prize

endowed with 2.000 €

donated by SAE Institute Bochum

Eurydike (Kreidler)

Andreas Reihse, Zaza Rusadze

Germany 2020, 4'10'', colour

Statement

In Greek mythology the poet Orpheus accidently kills his wife Eurydike after having freed her from Hades. Or perhaps it was no accident, as Klaus Theweleit assumes in his book "Male Fantasies"? Does the (male) artist need to bury his (female) muse to be creative? Eurydike abstractly addresses the ancient topic by rhythmically editing associative images to Kreidler's music. To appreciate the effort of transferring a very complex topic into the aesthetics of a 4-minute music video, the MuVi jury decided to award this year's first prize to Eurydike by Zaza Rusadze and Andreas Reihse.

2nd MuVi Prize

endowed with 1.000 Euro

donated by SAE Institute Bochum

Introspektion (for "Tranquilizer" by Oliver Huntemann)

Hamid Kargar

Germany 2019, 4'14'', b/w

Statement

Hamid Kargar's video for Oliver Huntemann's "Tranquilizer" is a perfect demonstration of how, with care and vision, a simplicity of means can result in an engrossing multitude of effects. The repetition of a single face, spooling ever onwards like the driving beat of Huntemann's techno, appears in a seemingly inexhaustible array of visionary disguises ranging from witty Victoriana to Lovecraftian horror. The video also, right from the opening zoetropic moiré, makes subtle yet powerful adjustments to its mechanisms to accommodate key structural changes in Huntemann's music. For both the form of the video and the drawings themselves, the MuVi jury award this year's second prize to Introspektion.

MuVi-Jury 2020

Max Dax, Germany

Adam Harper, UK

Agnese Logina, Latvia

MuVi Online Audience Award

endowed with 500 €

donated by SAE Institute Bochum

Chosen by online vote.

Wer sagt denn das? (Deichkind)

Timo Schierhorn/UWE

Germany 2019, 3'00'', colour

The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen thanks its MuVi partners 2020:

3sat

coolibri

Goethe Institut

kultur.west

netpoint media

SAE Institute Bochum