Lucie, 14, was placed into a children’s home to avoid seeing her mother die. In this transitional stage she recognizes a familiar face. Yannis, 19, is a dreamy and clever apprentice gardener who takes care of the garden during the holidays. In him Lucie sees the possibility of something new.

« Thank you very much. I write this with all my heart. I wish I could have been there to live this moment in Brooklyn that I like so much. And which seems so far away now.

I am totally dazzled that Zenith crosses borders. I am very moved because I think that there are no feelings more just, truer than those of adolescence. That in the end there is no such naively pure and crude way of being in the world. And that it is essential, perhaps even more so today, to remember the child, the teenager that we are all still somewhere, to never forget that special rhythm that sets the pace of our adult life. Whether we follow it, or go against it. Zénith tells of the days when they have to go with the pain. And this is what I think is rewarded by this prize. And that is what touches me enormously today. Attempting to put these fragments into sound and images would obviously not have been possible without the sensitivity and professionalism of the entire film team, to whom I would like to express my special thanks. Kisses fly from Geneva to Brooklyn. And flowers in the heart. Thank you »

Camille Tomatala

LILLIAN

directed by Andreas Horvath

Duration: 02:10:00
Producers: Film Institut, Filmfonds Wien, Filmstandort Austria
Writer: Andreas Horvath
Cast: Patrycja Planik

Lillian, an emigrant stranded in New York City, decides to walk back to her native Russia. She resolutely starts out on the long journey. A road movie straight across the USA into the freezing temperatures of Alaska. The chronicle of a slow disappearance.

MURGHAB

directed by Martin Saxer, Daler Kaziev and Marlen Elders

Duration: 01:20:27
Producers: Martin Saxer and Marlen Elders
Cast: Yrysbek Turdiev, Abdilda Osmonov, Kanymbyby Tagaikulova, Rasul Mamaseitov, Mayrambai Tashtanov, Aisalkyn Alieva and Hushnazar Oshurov

Murghab and its people have weathered several storms and the Soviet hallmarks are crumbling away. Yet, live goes on and, with wit and improvisational skills, the ruins of Socialism afford a plethora of new but precarious ways to make do.

SAND

directed by Kyungrae Kim

Duration: 00:18:14
Cast: James Chung, Hanna Cho, Jongki Son

Sungmin and Mirae go on a trip to Gangwon Province.

ASHES TO ASHES

directed by Taylor Rees and Renan Ozturk

Duration: 00:25:01
Producer: Taylor Rees
Writer: Allison Davis
Cast: Winfred Rembert, Dr.Shirley Jackson Whitaker

Winfred Rembert, the only living survivor of a lynching, a Star Wars fanatic and leather artist, develops a friendship with Doctor Shirley Jackson Whitaker who is on a mission to memorialize the forgotten 4,000 African Americans lynched during the Jim Crow era. Together, their journeys of healing intertwine.

UP AND THROUGH

directed by Kamen Stoyanov

Duration: 00:10:00

A journey of a bucket filled with a sea water starts and continues up a steep cliff. On the cliff a man takes the bucket and carries it through an unfinished hotel. In the hotel we see scenes recalling existing works of art and performances by contemporary artists. A string quartet plays in the unfinished swimming pool.

THE HAUNTED SWORDSMAN

directed by Kevin McTurk

Duration: 00:16:34
Writer: Tab Murphy
Producer: Lisa Henson
Cast: Jason Scott Lee, James Hong, Christopher Lloyd, Franka Potente

In this handcrafted epic puppet film set in a world of demons and ghosts, a lone samurai and his odd companion, a cursed severed head, seek vengeance in a haunted world.