2008 MIFF COMPETITION AWARDS
Dramatic Features: World Cinema Competition
- Knight Grand Jury Prize: TRICKS (SZTUCZKI)
Andrzej Jakimowski’s picaresque film is about a fatherless boy who tries to tempt fate in this charming and bittersweet film from Poland. - Special Mention: IT'S HARD TO BE NICE (TESKO JE BITI FIN)
Srdan Vuletic’s urban fairytale about post-war society from Bosnia follows a Sarajevo taxi driver whose attempts to change his life for the better are met with resistance at all turns. - Special Mention: FOUL GESTURE (TNUAH MEGUNA)
Itshak (Tzahi) Gradi’s film about vendetta and vigilantism centers on a middle-aged man who decides to take justice into his own hands after becoming the victim of a road rage incident.
Dramatic Features: Ibero-American Competition
- Knight Grand Jury Prize: COCHOCHI
This Mexican road movie and fairytale by Israel Cárdenas and Laura Amelia Guzmán is part of this year’s MIFF Abroad program. - Knight Grand Jury Prize: EAT, FOR THIS IS MY BODY
Michelange Quay’s debut feature explores the spiritual corrosion of Haiti’s colonialist legacy with surreal, often wordless imagery. - Special Mention: THE GIRLS (LAS NIÑAS)
Using film as a scalpel to cut open the feminine mystique, Chilean director Rodrigo Marín’s two-hander pierces the heart of female relationships with uncanny perception. - Special Mention: BLUE EYELIDS (PARPADOS AZULES)
Quiet and nuanced, Ernesto Contrera’s touching dramatic comedy from Mexico explores the role that destiny plays in shaping our lives.
Documentary Features: World and Ibero-American Competition
- Knight Grand Jury Prize: SANTIAGO
A fascinating meditation on the measure of a man, João Moreira Salles’ splintered documentary is a portrait that is both proud and profoundly erudite. - Special Mention: SANTA FE STREET (CALLE SANTA FÉ)
Calle Santa Fé is Carmen Castillo's poignantly personal journey to the homeland she was forced to leave behind, as well as her search for meaning in the struggle against oppression. - Special Mention: A PAPER TIGER (UN TIGRE DE PAPEL)
Luis Ospina’s dazzling, wickedly playful portrait of Manrique Figueroa mirrors his own country’s political upheaval from the 1940s to the 1970s.
Shorts Competition
- Knight Grand Jury Prize: HOMECOMING
Connie Diletti’s film explores post-war trauma. While trying to process the indigestible experience of war, Drew tries to bring a friend home with him. - Honorable Jury Mention: TRAUMOLOGY (TRAUMOLOGIA)
Daniel Sánchez Arévalo’s follows Antonio’s wedding, where his father has a heart attack and whole family goes to the hospital where all of their traumas and miseries appear during a tense night. - Special Mention for Best Animated Short Film: MADAME TUTLI PUTLI
Is Chris Lavis’ and Maciek Szcerbowski’s film a Hitchcockian suspense or an artistic tour de force? The night train awaits you… - Special Mention for Best First-Time Director: OVERNIGHT A ROSE
Viv Koh’s film is about overcoming lies and the nature of true love.
MIFF Audience Awards
- Dramatic Features: World Cinema Competition: BLISS (MUTLULUK)
Abdullah Oguz’s intense and beautifully rendered drama boasts stellar performances and a compelling musical score and stunning images of the Sea of Marmara. - Dramatic Features: Ibero-American Cinema Competition: LA ZONA
Rodrigo Plá’s taut thriller doubles as a damning critique of Mexico City’s shocking economic disparity. Once threatened, an enclave of privilege sheds all pretense of civility to succumb to the basest of instincts—the deadly mob mentality. - Documentary Features: World & Ibero-American Competition: STRANDED: I'VE COME FROM A PLANE THAT CRASHED IN THE MOUNTAINS (VENGO DE UN AVIÓN QUE CAYÓ EN LAS MONTAÑAS)
Through the use of carefully constructed dramatizations, news footage, and interviews with survivors atop the crash site, filmmaker Gonzalo Arijón crafts a moving testament to the strength and endurance of the human spirit.
FIPRESCI International Critics Award
FOUL GESTURE (TNUAH MAGUNA)
Itshak (Tzahi) Gradi’s film about vendetta and vigilantism centers on a middle-aged man who decides to take justice into his own hands after becoming the victim of a road rage incident.
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