24 March 2017 - Hong Kong Arthouse Film Festival Spring 2017 winners:

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Best Narrative Feature Film: Run / Vlucht (Germany) by Frank Blau. “Germany. The situation has changed from democracy to a kind of military dictatorship. L., a woman age30, mother of two little children is being blackmailed by the department of homeland-security: She has to hand over a so called terrorist. B. is on the run. She is forced to leave Germany. L. finds B. in the forrests, they walk together. After some time L. realises, that she and B. are in the same desperate situation. Run- a movie about trust, loneliness and the morality of betrayal.”

Best Documentary Feature Film: Babylondon (United Kingdom) by Andres Roccatagliata. “BabyLondon is a documentary, which reveals an invisible side of society in London, a city where reality and illusion get muddled up. Young immigrants from different countries, share ideas, beliefs and experiences which connects us with a universe full of questions which make us doubt the political and social system we live in. The people who appear in the documentary explore an alternative lifestyle which puts them on the margins of the system, recycling food from dustbins, living in houses which have been abandoned by their owners and taking drugs as a way to explore. In the course of the documentary these characters show us the nature of the world they inhabit, a world full of uncertainties, a context in which experimentation plays a primordial role in understanding the purpose of life. These characters show us a hidden side of the London underground; a psychedelic London which coexists with the cultural discomfort prevailing in postmodern society. The filmmaker has immersed himself in an urban subculture, developing an audio-visual experience, which portrays a fragment of the hidden alternative culture in London while at the same time revealing the cultural disenchantment that exists in postmodern society.”

Best Narrative Short Film: Zoe (Poland) by Antoni Nykowski and Ola Rudnicka. “Stolen pay. Sexual harassment.Months without a paycheck. Outrageous fees and expenses that eat away at earnings. And no one to turn to for help. Zoe is a story about 18 years model, being exposed to white rape and sexual abuse situation since she was 15. It’s about her striving to survive in a world full of hypocrisy, where youth & innocence are only an asset.”

Best Documentary Short Film: Olympic Nick: A Donutumentary (Australia) by Ian Tran, Rachel Morssink. “What happens when a $3.7 billion dollar regional rail project gets derailed by a 76-year-old man and his humble doughnut van? Nick Tsiligiris' doughnut van, Olympic Doughnuts, has been an iconic fixture at Melbourne's Footscray train station since 1979. This short documentary offers a glimpse into Nick's life and the business that has captured the heart of this multicultural and ever-changing community.”

Best Animated Short Film: Pizza Face (United States) by Justin Ulloa and Jamie Dwyer. “A self-absorbed pizza waitress unleashes devastating horror after downloading a sinister new mobile app.”

Best Underground Film: Otis N' Dwayne (United States) by Dylan Mendoza O'Neil. “Two androgynous creatures embark on a psychotronic journey of self-discovery in a cruel, unusual and mostly male world. This comedy about two gay androids abandoned in a New Jersey suburb inhabited by God, the devil, and other lowlifes is a f*cked up movie for f*cked up times.”

Best Experimental Film: The Grace Chapters (Germany) by Lene Vollhardt. “Grace Kelly lingers in the stairway of the cinema. Men appear, lining up in a row in front of her, like a tribunal at a trial on an unknown indictment. Confronting her equally with offers and allegations, her state is increasingly marked by a state of cryptic waiting. Riddled by the hints she is given, her perception starts to undergo transformation, resonating with the space she is in, rather than with the men that keep appearing in front of her. Does the hallway of the cinema speak to her, or are those the theatre ghosts? Expelled from the screen, will she find her way to empowerment, or will she be forever locked in the transition space between projection and being real?”

Best Music Video: Skinny Days - Alright Right Now (Poland) by Mats Udd. “The story of five people in an abandoned factory in Poland. When an old man suddenly enters nothing will ever be the same. This psychotic and gross video is the collaboration between a Swedish director, the Norwegian band Skinny Days and a Polish film crew. This is the band Skinny Days first single but even though their music is far away from horror, not even the bands from the Norwegian black metal scene made videos like this.”

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