AWARDS 2024
Award in the Experimental Media category for Kinderfilm by Total Refusal | By using existing computer game worlds as the context of their narratives, Total Refusal not only succeeds in a resistant reinterpretation of entertainment infrastructure, but also in revealing underlying mechanisms and sociocultural norms. The absence of children in the successful computer game Grand Theft Auto probably results from the pragmatism of the developers in order to avoid any moral dilemmas in the virtual world of the action game. At the same time, Kinderfilm also makes such visual exclusion mechanisms tangible concerning other groups not represented by the smooth surface of computer game worlds.
Award in the Narration category for Direction of the Road by Janelle VanderKelen | In her films, Janelle VanderKelen gives plants agency. She cleverly uses the time-based medium of film to remove the clearest barrier between human and plant perception. However, she does not stop at making plants act perceptibly for humans, but rather gives them convincing internal logics that correspond to the sensorium and context of plants. The Direction of the Road is just the latest example in a series of successful changes in perspective directed by her.
Award in the Sound category for do they speak color? by Billy Roisz & Dieter Kovacic| Sound and video meet at eye level in the duo's film. Billy Roisz and Dieter Kovacic confidently demonstrate that sound and music not only assist the image projected on the screen, but also form independent elements of their artistic repertoire. As aural explorers, they accompany viewers in soundscapes whose sound is at least as exciting as the sight.
The jury also gives honorary mentions to the extraordinary films The Eyeball Person by Yuri Muraoka, Das feine Zirpen einer Dunkelziffer by Vera Sebert, Groundapple by LLonymus Axoparri and Domestic Balance by Federica Sala.