The 12th edition of Tirana International Film Festival came to an end on Sunday evening, awarding the Italian film The Medicine Seller by Antonio Morabito with the Best Feature Film Award and the Best Screenplay Award. Spanish filmmaker Luis Miñarro was named Best Director for his film Falling Star, which also won the Best Cinematography Award. Love Me from Germany wins the Best Editing Award “Luc Barnier”.

Lasting 7 days, TIFF ’14 held morning workshops, and a very interesting program of short features: fiction, documentaries, animations and experimental films. 

Amedeo Pagani and Antonio Morabito with the Best Screenplay Award (The Medicine Seller)

Best Feature Film Jury, composed by Elma Tataragic, Regina Longo and Gabor Pinter gave their rationale on their first prize: “not only a well-made, stylish and exciting drama, but also a socially engaged portrayal of a corrupt society in which profit is put above human decency”.

Spanish director Luis Miñarro (Falling Star) was given the Best Director prize, “for the refined use of symbols and irony in depicting solitude and isolation in a period drama” according to the Jury. The Best Screenplay Award went to Antonio Morabito, Michele Pellegrini and Amedeo Pagani for their work on The Medicine Seller, with the Jury praising “an important story for our societies preoccupied with material gain and success. This screenplay is elaborate, deep, with a nice balance of character΄s professional and personal life, building palpable tension in each sector as he shifts to desperation”.

Cinematographer Jimmy Gimferrer won the Best Cinematography Award for the Spanish film Falling Star, “for the mature and intriguing approach to transposing the inspiration offered by period paintings into a unique visual world”. The Best Editing Award “Luc Barnier” was bestowed to Daniel Stephan for the film Love Me by Philipp Eiccholtz. According to the Jury, “the search for love and employment can be paralyzing, but in the right hands this type of story can be full of kinetic energy that invites the viewer to keep pace with the philosophical development of the protagonist”. 

TIFF’s 2014 Shorts Selection was impressive. The Jury of the International Short Films, composed by Sasho Pavlovski, Daniele Greco and Kushtrim Bekteshi presented the following awards:

Asimina Proedrou’s awarded and multi-traveled Red Hulk was awarded with one of TIFF’s most important prizes, the Best Short Fiction Film. “Brave and creative treatment of themes like racism, xenophobia, aggression, intolerance and prejudice… they look like five fingers of one hand enclosed into a fist which blows a strong hit to the audience and confronts it to the actual problem which disturbs the modern society in the whole world.” said among others the Jury.

Scars of Cambodia by Alexandre Liebert got the Best Short Documentary Award, making the Jury admit that “the author of this documentary film, succeeds in an extraordinary way, through a poetry of picture, to expose one deep and emotional story, without words, in silence, but louder than any scream”. Dutch animation Life is Beautiful by Ben Brand was named Best Short Animation, because “this wonderful and optimistic story is transferred to the audience by an excellent author, through an impressive 3D animation.” y2o (distilled) by Canadian Dominique T. Skoltz got the Best Short Experimental prize “using experimental tools, with a rich expressive style, the author marvelously succeeds to point out all the small things that sometimes we think are not important.”

For 2014, the Best Balkan Film prize went to the film Holiday At The Seaside by Cristina Grosan (Bosnia-Herzegovina/Romania/Hungary). Electra Venaki, who curated the Balkan program, praised the film “for its accuracy in depicting the reality and the concerns of the adolescence, for the scenery, narrative style and pace in addition to the multi-Balkan conditions of production.”

The organizers, also presented the Best First Film Ron Halloway Award to Alexis Michalik from France for his film Grounded, “a fluid film with an excellent rhythm and pace, a naturally flowing narrative that manages to create a connection between each viewer with the story.”

Best Short Albanian Film of 2014 according to TIFF, was Lediona Kasapi’s experimental film Insecurity. The Jury composed by Odeta Çunaj, Sonila Demi dhe Kamuran Goranci were pleased that the film “found a structure and visual style both original and coherent in expressing a complex and abstract inner revolt, making it comprehensible and touchable always.” while, the festival’s Media Award was given to Italian Child K, by Roberto De Feo & Vito Palumbo, because “this movie brings to the surface the fact that large and shocking events of a nation and not coincidentally sometimes originate from the small passions of ordinary people.”

TIFF’s Audience Award was given to the film Crossing by Amos Ezra Katz from Singapore.

On the context of the festival, TIFF ΄14 also held the Albanian Cinema meeting, a panel of academics and film historians from the region, Europe and the States, aiming to widen and deepen academic research on the Albanian cinema and to establish an academic tradition within TIFF.