FIPRESCI Prize

FAF is the leading animation festival in the Nordic region and has historically focused on the Nordic-Baltic animation scene. It takes place in the small town of Fredrikstad, Norway, with the municipal cinema as the main venue. In October, Fredrikstad, Norway settles into a calm, mist-tinged autumn atmosphere as the summer crowds fade and the days grow shorter. The medieval Old Town, with its cobblestone streets and star-shaped fortress, feels especially atmospheric under the soft golden light and occasional drizzle. The festival showcases over 100 short and feature films in various program sections and highlight the animation scene of Northern Europe. A variety of activities towards a growing audience, such as seminars, exhibitions, workshops, meetings with filmmakers, 1:1 meetings with industry figures, a pitching competition and ceremonies are part of the festival. A dedicated competition program for Nordic-Baltic films is a key part of the festival. Our three members jury will give an award to the Global Competition Short Film and Nordic-Baltic Short Film.

Austria’s most important international film event, as well as one of the oldest and best-known festivals in the German-speaking world, the Viennale offers a program of high quality in a relaxed urban atmosphere in autumn, when Vienna is at its most attractive, and it takes place in the city’s historic center, providing the festival with an international orientation and a distinctive urban flair. In its program, the Viennale shows a selection of new films from all over the globe as well as from Austria, some of them international premieres, showcasing a cross-section of bold film-making which stands apart from the aesthetics of mainstream conventionality and is politically relevant. Retrospectives on relevant aspects of film history are organized every year in collaboration with the Austrian Filmmuseum, and special events and parties are as much part of the festival as interviews, audience discussions and opportunities to meet the many international guests of the festival. Our jury of three members will focus on cross-section young cinema (first or second features in various sections).

One of the leading European documentary film festivals and the largest event of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe, it was conceived in the minds of a group of high school students in the Czech city of Jihlava in 1997. Since then, each autumn the Ji.hlava IDFF brings together hundreds and thousands of viewers, directors, producers, film critics, journalists, and friends of documentary cinema to spend several days “thinking through film”. Ji.hlava IDFF is among the festivals whose winners are eligible for the pre-selection of the Academy Awards® and the European Film Award. Our jury of three will present the FIPRESCI award to a film in the First Lights section for best world documentary debut or second feature.