Rarely could you see four different continents represented on one jury in a children’s film festival. The Montreal Int’l Children’s Film Festival (FIFEM) succeeded in doing just that for its 28th edition.
With Alain Jacques (Canada), Hélène Signer (New-Caledonia), Michael Harbauer (Germany) and Sangyong Lee (South Korea), the profile of the festival jury was more international than ever. Their Grand Prix de Montréal went to I ACCIDENTLY WROTE A BOOK (Nora Lakos, Hungary) for its coherent and creative art direction, and the originality with which the story is told.
For the Prize for Best Int’l Short the eyes were turned southwards. CAPYBARAS (by Alfredo Soderguit, Uruguay) succeeded in conveying a host of emotions among jury members without dialogue, all enhanced by magnificent drawings and animations. The award for Best Canadian Short went to WILD FLOWERS (Rodolphe Saint-Gelais & Thierry Sirois).
It was Sarah Winkenstette who won the hearts of the festival visitors. Her GREETINGS FROM MARS took the Audience Award home to Germany.