Current issues
Report by Juha Rajamäki
The Tampere Film Festival (March 8-13) was organized for the 53rd in 2023. It is one of the three largest short film festivals in Europe, alongside Clermont-Ferrand (France) and Oberhausen (Germany).
Director Markus Toivo has been presented with the Church Media Foundation Award at the Tampere Film Festival 2023 for his documentary film "Under Construction". The prize is endowed with 1.500 euros.
"I have forgotten the feeling of seeing," says Viera Čákanyová at the beginning of "Poznámky z Eremocénu" (Notes from the Eremocene). In the cinema, a sentence like that can send a shudder through your limbs. Karsten Visarius reports about the Forum section of the Berlinale.
One of the most frequently asked questions to the Ecumenical Jury is: What criteria do you use to choose your prizes? We are not looking for the "better Jesus film", explained jury member Kerstin Heinemann in an interview. In fact, there is a list of points to consider. Outstanding artistic quality is just as much a part of it as respect for human dignity, Miriam Hollstein, president of the Ecumenical Jury at the Berlinale 2023, writes in her festival report.
After two years of limitations due to the Corona pandemic, the 73rd Berlinale is back to its usual scope. It will open on 16 February with the romantic comedy "She Came to Me" by Rebecca Miller, which will be screened as a Berlinale Special Gala.
For more than 70 years, the Protestant Film Jury in Germany (Jury der Evangelischen Filmarbeit) has awarded the title FILM OF THE MONTH to a film currently being shown in cinemas. The jury chose the FILM OF THE YEAR: "She Said" from the films that received the award in 2022.
At the 8th Human Rights Film Festival Zurich, a jury appointed by Interfilm Switzerland awarded the Prix Célestine to "Alis" by Clare Weiskopf and Nicolas Hemelryck.
We often talk about Christians' attachment to cinema, as a path of faith, a crisp look to the world and a window open to an invisible kingdom. Today, I would like to reverse the discourse and evoke the fascination of filmmakers for the religious rituals, says Magali van Reeth in her greeting at the Ecumenical Reception in Mannheim 2022.
The Prix Interculturel 2022 of the Interfilm Academy München goes to "Love Eat and Everything in Between" by Soham Kundu. The jury of the Interfilm Academy awarded in addition a Commendation to "I Was Attacked" by Sara Massieu.
The Church Media Foundation´s "Look at Me…" -Award at the Oulu International Children and Youth Film Festival 2022 goes to the Finnish short film "Blanket", directed by Teppo Airaksinen.
