2019
Fame and Fortune
This year, our jury awarded 7 distinct categories and honoured two special mentions. like every year the audience has a vote as well and this years audience choice is saying something about our audience. We believe in good films and the people behind them – the people that work, sweat, travel and resist all obstacles to make them come to life. While honest apprecation is a currency on its own, we can show our appreciation in hard cash thanks to our generous and engaged sponsors that are made up of local production companies.
THE ARC OF SENSES
Fisherman and the girl by Mamuka Tkeshelashvili, endowed with 1.000 € by Kontrastfilm
Mamuka Tkeshelashvili tells a story in his film Fisherman and the girl that won our hearts instantly. He manages to tell a story that works without dialogue and relies entirely on its images and the use of music. The film addresses those two senses, a film can address: seeing and hearing. And although you can see that world is not real but costructed, you sink immediatly into the world and the story and get carried away by the emotions. That is why in our opinion the film deserves the prize of The Arc of Senses.
1st RHEINLAND-PFÄLZISCHER FILM & FÖRDERPREIS
Death of the Filmmaker by Cornelius Koch endowed with 2.000 € by the Arc.
Cornelius Koch developed a clever, innovative and funny animation film, dealing with the effects of storytelling. The film is full of surprises and is playing with filmgenres and realities. Visually stunning with excellent szenorgafie with a lot of love for detail.
BEST VISUAL STORYTELLING
Close Enough by Mahdi Hossengholi und Mojtaba Zarghampour, endowed with 500 € by Pille
First-time Filmmakers Mahdi Hossengholi and Mojtaba Zarghampour convince the jury with their Experimental. The 9 minutes plan-sequence and its unexpected
turning point does not only motivate the slight but dramatic camera-movement. It reveals a new perspective and induces a simple but tragic question: do we have to get even closer to see. Or is it close enough to take up action? The filmmakers usage of minimalistic means outputs a maximum drama. Thus the jury honours Close Enough for Best Visual Storytelling!
BEST SCENOGRAPHY
Fisherman and the girl by Mamuka Tkeshelashvili, endowed with 500 € by Spektrumfilm
The director has created a world with great attention to detail. He manages to bring lifeless objects to life, more than that, they seem that vivid, for the duration of the movie, you forget about time and space. With bright colors and a keen sense of aesthetics, the world of Fisherman and the girl enchanted us. The scenery of this film is outstanding and extraordinary, which is why we want to honor his film with Best Scenography.
CIVIL EYE AWARD
From Seed to Seed by Katharina Stieffenhofer, endowed with 300 € Vierte Wand & AL-Plus
We award the prize Civil Eye Award to From Seed to Seed, as the film contains the most important topic of human life: The respectful treatment of our earth, the animals and the people. Katharina Stieffenhofer passionate and loving documentation about organic farmers is full of optimism and hope for a better living. In addition to information and knowledge, the film conveys above all great gratitude for those who grow our food.
FRESH VIEW AWARD
Erdenleib von Vincent Ecoradi, Nicholas Dues & Julius Schulze Farwick, endowed with 300 € by Prisma.film
This film creates a unique story world. The single character is quite shocking to see at first - a being who has cut himself off from the world who is living in darkness with his eyes as his only source of light. We don't know his backstory but we might guess how he became this underground recluse. The theme is universal and metaphorical. The implementation is poetic and artistic with stunning and haunting visuals representing both the character's isolation and his never-ending need for light and perhaps humanity.
AUDIENCE CHOICE
The old man and the dead von Amir Reza Falaki, endowed with 500 € by Media Atelier
Amir Reza Falaki has developed a special imagery and narrative style with his movie The old man an the dead, which has not only convinced our programmers, he has also captivated our festival audience this year.
SPECIAL MENTION
After Dawn by Nicolas Graux After Dawn
After Dawn tells in a very sensitive and sensual way about the love between two young men. We were impressed by the camera, the direction and the acting performance. The film also fulfills an important social task. The more frequently we treat the subject of homosexuality as a society, the less reservations we will experience and the more understanding will be built up.
SPECIAL MENTION
The Dress of Myriam by Lucas H. Rossi The Dress of Myriam
Beautifully shot and impeccably poignant. Elegant and poetic in its spareness and simplicity. Often we don\'t appreciate and value what we have until it\'s gone, especially in matters of love. An elderly doting wife, a disgruntled, perhaps bitter man, a long marriage. This is a heart-breaking story about the fragility of love, and how familiarity can breed complacency, and even boredom. But then suddenly, it\'s too late.
2018
Fame and Fortune
We believe in the good in films and the people behind them – the people that work, sweat, travel and sit to make them come to life. While honest apprecation is a currency on its own, we can show our appreciation in hard cash thanks to our generous and engaged sponsors that are made up of local production companies. This year, our jury awarded 7 distinct Arc Trophies together with prize money, completed by the audience choice award sponsored with 500 € by Indievisuals.
THE ARC OF SENSES
Being Ernest by Victoria Fistes, endowed with 750 € by Kontrastfilm
Film is an art, which is supposed to place the eye in the center of the universe. But it wouldn´t be art if it didn´t try to expand its sensory universe. Victoria Fistes did this with a brave reduction to imaginary seeing.
BEST FEATURE FILM (2/2)
Marisa En Los Bosques by Antonio Morales, endowed with 1.000 € by Memofilm
The director stages this quickly told plot as a chain of episodes set in the milieu of the urban scene in Madrid. A steady change of film language and style corresponds with the unsteadiness of the protagonist. The references to movies, from the Nouvelle Vague to Magic Realism – including footage from the film library, surely delight cinephiles trying to decode the origins. But the appropriation and stringing of known motifs exceeds far beyond an admiring imitation. Thereby a whole new entity is created – an auteur film, no longer believing in the old meta-narratives, which playfully sketches an artistically autonomous image of contemporary attitudes of life.
BEST FEATURE FILM (1/2)
Landrauschen by Lisa Miller, endowed with 1.000 € by Memofilm
Movies tell stories. Most of them are completed but usually life isn´t. During this movie the protagonists trip over those kinds of unevenness and the director makes it to the principle of her story-telling. That makes if possible for her to renew stereotypes of a coming-of-age-story in the genre of a sentimental film at a regional setting with all its obligatory figures and to catch the sound of an unexpected life.
BEST VISUAL STORYTELLING
Mona Lisa Selfie by Daniel McKee, endowed with 500 € by Pillefilm
This movie is about pictures. One of the best-known analogue pictures of the world, which is seen by 6 million people every year. And about millions of digitally made pictures of people who want to draw attention to themselves. Doesn't the inflation of images devalue the production of all pictures and in the end also the artistically created picture? Is our narcisstic self only able to experience and feel itself in the reflection of social media like Instagram and co? How can we understand the world surrounding us if we are no longer able to observe its counterpart in art, but instead embed it seamlessly as an effigy into their own mirror world? These and many other important questions are raised by Daniel McKee in only 70 seconds without even holding a camera himself.
SPECIAL NARRATIVE
Weavers of Imagination by Sadegh Jafari, endowed with 250 € by luli Productions
The women weaving carpets in this movie are blind. Colors, surfaces, lines and the interplay are only in their imaginary but in the end, they create real magnificent ornaments. The camera watches the lifes of the weavers with a distant view like it´s afraid to appear sentimental or pastoral. This careful gesture turns a simple movie into an occasion – just like the tradition of Iranian movies.
NEW MEDIA
Kelim 12 by Nils Hillebrand, endowed with 250 € by Prisma.Film
The video installation “Kelium 12” by Nils Hildebrand plays with the effects from the beginning of music videos. The imperfection of the partly used analog world of colors becomes an abstract area of a moving composition with a rhythmic change. The special part is the new interpretation of a technical imperfect original material into a modern and abstract context. Just like the process of Kelium weaving the pattern are developed with a virtual weaving loom.
GREATEST RISK
Being Ernest by Victoria Fistes, sponsored by newCut Werbefilme
These days Film is associated with 3D, special effects and Dolby atmosphere. Victoria Fistes showed a completely black screen with typography, pictographs in old fashioned 2D and the voice of a child. The director is brave enough to take risk by using only a few resources and creates a cinematic experience that touches the audience emotionally.
2017
The jurors have decided
The Arc film festival has awarded four stella achievments this year. On the side of the photos of the award winners you’ll find the statement of our jury. The Production company of Mainz Spektrumfilm has provided the prize money for the jury awards with 1.000 €. The audience award is endowed with 200 Euro financed with the entrance fee. The 17 movies out of our Official Selection were great and along these lines we want to give our heartfelt thanks to all the filmmakers, that made this year’s festival to this exceptional place.
THE ARC OF SENSES
The Bleak Farm by Christian Zipfel
The Bleak Farm is an impressive document of history that is depicted in densely packed black & white images. The intense storyline draws the viewer into a period long gone with credibility. Every element of filmic narration is carried out with great expertise. The visual appeal as well as the soundscape match the historic reality of the 19th century. From its blunt narration to the surprising end, Der einsame Hof puts up against established cinema practises - in the end, the evil wins.
BEST VISUAL STORYTELLING
The Man Who Shot Himself In The Head by Harvard Harboe
A shot misses its target but hits deep. The dysfunctional relation the movie is carried by is depicted by very consisent camera work, packed into almost metaphorical images. Consequently, the movie develops its own visual concept that makes the camera comparable to a voice-over. This way it gains sustainability and credibility, which draw the viewer into the story.
AUDIENCE AWARD
Nimbostratus by Samuel Ackermann
Apart from our jury of experts we put immense trust in the audience and gave the viewers the opportunity to vote for themselves. Most gladly did and chose Samuel Ackermann and his team as winners of the audience award for their movie "Nimbostratus". This lovely and bizarre story around a man and his relationship with a rain cloud is not only good for laughs, but also wins you over with its refreshing narration and tasteful imagery.
SPECIAL AWARD OF THE JURY
Som Ein Reier Så Ligg Ein by Alexander Zwart
An outstanding addition to the selection at hand, this story is to be praised in every aspect. Not only is it rich in dark humor and surprising cues, the narration and the fantastic visuals make this movie a wonderful experience.