B3 Festival 2024
Awards and Winners
BEST SHORT FILM
Olivier Panier, Director and Screenwriter, Belgium for UNDERDOGS
Homeless 17-year-old Karim is looking for Gégé, his drug-addict father, to tell him that they have at last been offered social housing. He finds him in a sordid squat, suffering from advanced withdrawal symptoms. Karim manages to convince his father to go with him, but two stoked dealers turn up at the squat. Gégé decides to stay. So Karim is faced with an impossible dilemma.
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BEST EMERGING TALENT
Sophie Mühe, Director and Screenwriter, Germany for SOCIAL CLUB
The Proletik Sonnenberg fan club of Chemnitz's Athletic Sonnenberg football club supports its team. But singing and chanting are only one side of the coin when it comes to who you support. Athletic Sonnenberg is committed to show diversity on the pitch and to make sure everybody feels welcomed. And doing so in a city with loads of far-right fan bases makes the game even more intense.
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BEST VR EXPERIENCE
Darren Emerson, VR Producer, UK for LETTERS FROM DRANCY
In “Letters from Drancy”, you will accompany Marion Deichmann as she recounts her daring childhood journey across the borders of Northern Europe during WW2 with her mother Alice, her painful separation from her mother, her escape from the Nazis with the help of the French Resistance in Paris, and her survival of D-Day in Normandy.
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B3 ROTRAUT PAPE INSPIRATION AWARD
Florian Siebert, VR Producer, Germany for UPWIND
Experience the magic of classic cinematic storytelling reimagined for the immersive realm of virtual reality. Our innovative approach lets you step inside the narrative, feeling every moment as if you were truly there. Utilizing the revolutionary technology of volumetric capturing, we preserve each actor's performance in its purest form—every subtle facial expression and raw emotion remain completely authentic.
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B3 BEST IMMERSIVE AND TIME BASED ART
Alona Rodeh, Artist and Filmmaker, Israel and Germany for RUNWAY FREEFALL and WASTED
Runway Freefall is a born-digital animation film about an impossible love story situated in a nocturnal deserted industrial cityscape. The music video depicts an imaginary takeover of two rental e-scooters dancing the night away. It is part of a series of CGI short motion clips marking an artistic shift from traditional filmmaking to post-cinematic gaming engines.
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B3 BEST FEATURE FILM
Bogdan Mureșanu, Director, Romania for THE NEW YEAR THAT NEVER CAME
On December 20th, 1989, Romania stands on the brink of revolution. The streets are alive with demonstrations, students mock the regime through art, and New Year’s shows glorify Ceausescu. Yet, behind closed doors, families grapple with personal conflicts and the omnipresent Secret Police. Six seemingly disconnected lives intersect in unexpected ways. As tensions reach a boiling point, an explosive moment brings them together, culminating in the dramatic fall of Ceausescu and the communist regime.
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B3 HONORARY AWARD FOR TIME BASED ART
Federico Solmi, Artist, USA
Federico Solmi, born in Bologna, Italy in 1973, has been living in New York since 1999. His groundbreaking work was recognized with the award of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship in 2009. Solo museum surveys include American Circus at the Haifa Museum of Art in Haifa, Israel, in 2016; The Grand Masquerade at the Tarble Art Center in Charleston, Illinois, in 2019; and Joie de Vivre at the Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey, in 2022–23.
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B3 SPECIAL HONORARY AWARD
Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, Directors and Screenwriters, Italy, Represented by Ermanno Taviani, Professor, Italy
The brothers Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani were highly acclaimed Italian film directors and screenwriters. They always worked together and, throughout their careers, jointly won 57 film awards, serving as inspirations for numerous now-established international filmmakers.
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B3 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Margarethe von Trotta, Director, Screenwriter and Actress, Germany
Both nationally and internationally, Margarethe von Trotta is regarded as one of the most significant figures in New German Cinema. Her work makes a substantial contribution to the discourse on democratic themes. Among her best-known works are Marianne & Juliane/The German Sisters, Rosa Luxemburg, and Hannah Arendt. Her films often centre around strong female protagonists and are characterised by deep character studies and a meticulous exploration of historical and socio-political issues.
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