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Ladies and gentlemen, guests, sponsors, donors, partners, members of the team, welcome to the 19th Crossing Europe Award Ceremony. My name is Karin Schmid and I'm super excited to be here. I cannot wait to find out who tonight's winners are going to be. I'm honored to be your host this evening and I'll be navigating through the next hour of celebrating European cinema. European cinema. Tonight the language will be English and we hope that this way everybody will be able to follow the proceedings and just two requests for the people that are going to come up on stage today please enter the stage on this side and exit it on this side two directions but we just would ask you to help us keep the proceedings running smoothly and there is a little remark about the photos yes there will be photos taken in the end of the ceremony. So if you've been on stage tonight, please stay. Don't run off. We would love you to be in those pictures. Another thing for everybody who's going to be on stage, I'm not wearing a mask, but as everybody else in this room, I've given my certificate of the 3G and I also tested myself. So we just hope that everybody is going to feel comfortable and safe. And before we jump right into the film awards, I'm happy to announce the winners of this year's Golden Bag Window Display Contest. A special thank you goes to the Crossing Europe Bag Sponsor Europack and its Managing Director Manfred Zaunbauer as well as the Oberösterreichische Nachrichten and Linzer City Ring. So let me announce the winners and you will be able to read along on this beautiful screen right behind me. The first prize goes to Bücher und mehr. The second prize goes to Kleider machen Leute. And the third prize goes to In the Box Shop. Yes, congratulations to the winners and a big thank you goes to every shop that participated. You can find them on the Crossing Europe website, crossingeurope.at slash goldenbag. And now, it's a very special moment. For the very first time at the award ceremonies, I will welcome the brand new leading team of the Crossing Europe Film Festival on stage. Please welcome with me Sabine Gebetsreuter and Katharina Riedler. What an amazing job they've done. Good evening. Good evening. It's true, it's true. I'd say well deserved, and I'm going to cut it short anyways. Welcome on stage, liebe Sabine and Katharina. I know you've been part of this festival for many years, but maybe it's challenging to take on the new role as co-festival directors. So my first question goes to you, Sabine. How do you feel this moment? What is your resume of the last days? feel this moment? What is your resume of the last days? Good evening. Yeah, I think we are happy. We are very grateful, excited and also curious to get to know the winners of tonight and also a little bit tired after five days. And for us, this week felt like a comeback of the crossing Europe spirit after a very long COVID winter and for five days here in Linz we had lots of screenings, we had a list of film premieres lots of festival guests there were approximately 120 film guests present in Linz and there were lots of lively talks and discussions, sometimes into the late night and also some nightline parties. And what especially for us was very wonderful and exciting. There was so much exchange between the audience and our festival guests. And we had the feeling that the festival as well as the city felt vibrant, cosmopolitan and truly European to us. Thank you so much. So Katharina, my question for you, what is your vision for Crossing Europe as a leading team? Well, we hope that the past days have been inspiring for the audience. They certainly have been for us. We've been taking notes. We've been collecting ideas. And we want to keep this spirit that Sabine just mentioned. and we want to keep this spirit that Sabine just mentioned and we envision Crossing Europe as a platform for European cinema with great openness and diversity and a place of exchange where you can dive into different European realities and topics and discuss and share your experiences with others afterwards. And I think we cannot leave the continent out of this. So for Europe, we really hope for peace, solidarity and respect. So my last question for the both of you. How will the next week start for you? Well, tomorrow we have the final day of the festival. So there is a full film program going on. We have 25 films tomorrow. And you will be able to see the closing film of Crossing Europe as well as one of the award-winning films. And in the evening there will be a small but a nice team party because we think our team deserves some partying. And in addition tomorrow also our streaming program will start. We have 10 selected European films. You can watch them on our partner streaming platform, Kino VUD Club, till the 2nd of June. And then on the 4th and the 5th of May, we will be in Vienna. We will present films at Austrian Film Museum. And after that, we will come back to Linz, because on the 8th of May, there will be the Lux Prize screenings at the Movimento here in Linz. All of you are very welcome. It's a great selection of films next Sunday. Hope to see you there. So a lot going on for sure. So Katharina, do you have anything that we would like to add? Indeed. We'd like to take the opportunity once again to thank some people. First of all, we'd like to take the opportunity once again to thank some people. First of all, we'd like to thank the audience that were part of this festival edition. A festival without an audience is not a festival. Also, thank you again very much to all the film guests that have been present here in Linz and who shared their films with us. Thank you to all our partners and sponsors for making this possible in the first place. And a special thank you to the donors of the awards tonight. And also, last but not least, we want to give a very big thank you out to the Crossing Europe Festival team. You are amazing, each and every one of you. We love you, all of you. We're looking forward to celebrate with you. Thank you. Please give a round of applause to the Crossing Europe team. Thank you so much. And we are definitely looking forward to celebrating European cinema in the next years with you. European cinema in the next years with you. So this year the festival is showing 148 films from over 30 countries and we are pleased to see that over 53% of the films presented this year were directed or co-directed by women. directed or co-directed by women. You're a great crowd, I can feel it already. The films feature a wide range of topics from war, various reasons that can lead up to war, as well as the aftermath and trauma caused by war, but also to family life, integration, LGBTQ themes, youth and more. Four different jurors will award their favorite films tonight. We are very happy that there was an amazing amount of people who went to see the screenings and voted for the films they liked best for the audience award. Thank you for participating. We will first turn to the awards of the local artist section and will then move on to the European Awards. Let's start with the Crossing Europe Local Artist Award comprising short and feature-length films from Upper Austria. 48 films and videos were presented this year in this showcase of upper Austrian filmmaking fiction, experimental short films and feature-length documentaries with a wide variety of topics Let me introduce to you the jury of the Local Artists Crossing Europe Award Please join me on stage Martin Sturm, Lorenz Tröbinger und Gertraud Eiter. Hello and welcome on stage. Please make yourself comfortable as central as possible. as central as possible. And before you announce the winner, I will introduce the awards of this category. So what's to win? This award is actually split in two. First, there's a voucher sponsored by the Austrian post-production company, the Grand Post, worth 2,000 euro, and a prize money of 5,000 euro, powered by the Cultural Department of the Federal Province of Upper Austria, in short Land Ober Österreich. So now please welcome with me the Managing Director of the Audio and Image Post-Production Company, the Grand Post in Vienna, Marco Zins. So there's a little fun fact, actually. The winners from last year have used the voucher from the Grant Post for producing the new film, which ran this year in the competition again. So Marco, please join me here. I'm not going to bite, but I'm going to share my microphone with you. So my question to you is, can you explain to us how they were able to use a voucher from the grant post? Well, Julia called on, I would say, very short notice. She was exporting her film at the very moment. And she asked, well, I'm accepted at the Max Office Prize and I need a DCP now, very urgently. And she sent over a hard drive. We received it a few days later, made the DCP and then sent it to Saarbrücken. And then again, on maybe another timescale but there was Diogenale and she said, oh, I need a subtitle version, please, can we make another DCP? So that's how we did it. Yes, great help. Thank you so much. Yeah, I think that's an amazing story. So thank you, Marco. And I'll ask the jury for their statement about who is to be awarded with this prize. And Lorenz Tröbinger will take the microphone, I believe. We all know how hard it is to follow and then realize your own professional ambitions, particularly when those ambitions are of an artistic nature. The local artist competition features a film that deals with this topic in a particularly convincing way. With a unique personal approach, when those ambitions are of an artistic nature. The Local Artist Competition features a film that deals with this topic in a particularly convincing way. With a unique personal approach, the film tells a story that is as captivating as it is entertaining with an unconventional setting and stands out through its exceptional cast and authentic atmosphere. The Crossing Europe Award Local Artist goes to Leni Gruber and Alex Reinberg for Hollywood. local artist goes to Leni Gruber and Alex Reinberg for Hollywood. Please join us on stage. So, in English, yeah. Alex, then you start, please. Yeah, wow. Thank you. We've actually shot this film in the midst of the corona pandemic and I think it was one of the most challenging creative experiences for us. But watching it in a cinema, being part of an audience again, was, I think, one of the most beautiful. So thank you for that. Thank you to this festival and everybody involved. Yeah. We also want to thank Land Oberösterreich, MR7. They funded the film, and we would like to say hi to Bezirksfeuerwehr Schenkenfelden. Yeah, they are watching tonight. Yeah, on the stream. Yeah, on the stream. Danke. Great, congratulations, thank you. Please find your seats again.. Please find your seats again. Yes, find your seats again. That's great. Thank you, Marco, also. It was a pleasure to see you, too. Yes, and the jury is still here. That's awesome. It is now my pleasure to welcome the representative for the governor of the federal province of Upper Austria, the provincial councillor Wolfgang Hattmann-Storfer here on stage. Please join me. And maybe you would like to come a little forward. Welcome, welcome, welcome. So Herr Hattmann-Storffer, from your professional point of view, what do you appreciate about the Crossing Europe Film Festival the most? Well, I think first thing for everyone, as already mentioned, we are very happy that it's possible to be in real life. It's an international festival to be together this night in real life. And even if film is very well suited to be seen digital, real life is real life and unbeatable. And the second thing is I want to show my deep respect to Miss Gebetsreuter and to Miss Riedler for your hard work, for your passion, for your experience and that you are making Upper Austria an international and innovative and cultural hub all over the world and that you are making Upper Austria an international and innovative and cultural hub all over the world and that you're building a landmark that you're building a lighthouse and I think we are very proud of having you here we are very proud of your teamwork and also that we are continuing this festival thank you very much. Thank you. And now I'll ask the jury again to announce the winner. And Martin Sturm will take the microphone. In an interview, the director of the awarding film, of the awarding winning film, explains how important it was to her to tell a story that is reduced to its essence. Not only through this reduction but also through the masterful use of cinematic means, a highly composed documentary film is created that draws the audience in and creates a deep bound with the protagonists. Working worlds meet places of longing, hard realities meet private wishes, economic interests meet utopian concepts, inseparably interconnected by shared space. The Local Artist Award goes to Jola Vjetorek and her stories from the sea. Please join us on stage. And this has never happened before. It's a world premiere for Crossing Europe, I think. Great. So maybe somebody from the backstage team can help me. And yeah, let's be careful wait for her to say her speech thank you very much to the jury this film would not be possible without my amazing crew who cannot be here, but I want to give a big, big thanks to all of them because they did a very hard job and worked with a lot of dedication and love. Also, I want to thank BMQs and especially Barbara Frenzen and Land Oberösterreich for the financial support. Barbara Frenzen and Land Oberösterreich for the financial support. And last but not least, my festival story started basically here at the Crossing Europe. I showed my first short films here. So it's really amazing to receive this award now. And yeah, thank you. Congratulations. So yes, please find your seats again. The chair will stay with me one last time. So yes, please find your seats again. The chair will stay with me one last time. I'm not entirely sure if somebody's coming. Yes, I saw a nod. So we'll continue. Please be careful. Maybe you want to move a little bit further towards me. I'm a friendly person. I'm all good. I just wanted to say they really told us how to hold it. Oh, they did or didn't. Please stay with us. It's okay. All right. We close the local artists section with the Creative Region Music Video Award worth 1,500 Euro. Joining me on stage for the Creative Region Linz in Upper Austria will be the Managing Director, Georg Tremetsberger. Please, join me on stage. Creativity is the mother of all innovation, is the first sentence, yes, take care. I read when I visit the website of Creative Region, Georg, please tell us about the price that is powered by Creative Region Linz in Upper Austria and why you are excited about this category. Yeah, the partnership with Crossing Europe was one of the first we established as Creative Region almost eight or ten years ago. Yeah, I remember talking with Thomas Diesenreiter, now the CEO of KUV, about how to support the creative scene in a posture because it's super special. We here have a vibrant music scene and top-notch video artists. So we are super happy to support the creatives here. And yeah, as you have seen in the movie, in the theatres, they are not lacking creativity, they are not lacking professionalism, but they are not lacking creativity, they are not lacking professionalism, but they are sometimes lacking some kind of budget, and so we are super happy to help out a little bit, and now I'm also curious who is going to be the winner. So let's find out. May I ask the jury? Gertraud, Aita, please. Courageous and formally intense, the music video shines a light on the difficult topic of relationships and transgression. Through the strong performance of the protagonist, a clear concept is realized without compromise. A film that touches on many levels. that touches on many levels. The Creative Reach in Music Video Award goes to I Accept Nella by Nadia Wodlak and Alexander Au-Yong. Please join us on stage. I handle with care. Very careful. Would you like to also hand over the certificate? Thank you to the jury. Thank you to everybody who came and watched. It was really amazing for me to see people touched by what we did together. And it was very funny to hear about the low budget because we had no budget. So, yeah, thanks. Congratulations. Congratulations. Please find your seats. And also a big thank you to the jury wonderful this is a great opportunity to um say the front part is great because it's dry um and by the way it's also great because light can catch you a bit easier. I see people on the sideline. Are you going to come up? And because then I think, or we'll just do the, maybe we can do it simultaneously. An applause for the rescuers of the evening and while this is happening we can take a short break and enjoy the awarded music video I Accept Nella Thank you. So we don't talk, just like we never knew each other Till we won't know one another And you want to pretend, so go on and pretend That we never felt a thing, till we won't feel anything. I accept, I have to accept, give up all my longings For truth and respect I have sinned I need to accept Cause I can't move on with this Hate in my chest You don't wanna talk So we don't talk But that's your decision It's never been mine And you wanted to fuck Tried to tell I gave up So I finally could sleep After saying no one repeats I accept, I have to accept Give up all my longings for truth and respect I accept, I do, I do accept Cause I don't wanna live with hatred in my chest No, I cannot accept I ain't broken yet And I wouldn't have died Won't you simply tell me Won't you simply tell me Who gave you the rights Who gave you the right? Who gave you my rights? Was it you yourself or was it me? Your screwed up past or our society? Was it you yourself or even me? You screwed up past or our society? society You don't wanna talk So we don't talk But you can't take my rights away To say what I need to say Thank you. Wow. I got goosebumps. I just want to shout out real quick. Thank you so much for helping me clean up or doing it. I didn't do anything. And making it dry again. I'm just going to check real quick. It might still be a little bit slippery. So for everybody else who comes up, try to avoid this area. Love the front, love the spotlight. So we start the European section of our ceremony with the Yaz Youth Jury. Five youngsters, all of them between 17 and 19 years old, watched six films out of the festival program, which feature young protagonists in the trials and tribulations. So may I ask the Yars Youth Jury to please join me on stage. Darius Handel, Annika Mauser, Viktoria Stojanovic, and not here with us tonight, but also part of the jury, Elisa Felbermeyer and Paula Meyerhuber. Welcome on stage. Thank you so much for being here. So you are all students at the AHS Kreuzschwestern Linz and no did you say no? Yeah the HLV of the Kreuzschwestern Linz and no did you say no? the HLV of the Kreuzschwestern but yeah so more or less thank you for cutting me some slack so this I'm just going to introduce the award this award is worth 3000 euro and is sponsored by the I'm just going to introduce the award. This award is worth €3,000 and is sponsored by the VDFS, Verwertungsgesellschaft der Filmschaffenden. And I ask the festival co-director, Katharina, to join me on stage in their stead. Hello, Katharina, would you like to say something? Well, the VDFS is really sorry that they couldn't send a representative to be here with us tonight and celebrate with us. But they send their warmest regards and obviously congratulations to the winner. Thank you so much. So without further ado, please, audience, I think Dario Sandl will take the mic. First things first, it's a great honor for me to stand here today in front of so many creative people, movie producers, directors. And I want to take a second to direct my thanks to the amazing team that made all this possible. I want to hear a huge round of applause for everyone involved in getting this festival to where it is today. We as the youth story got to see six movies that the team of youth programmers picked out for us out of many movies. So these six movies were all for themselves impressive pieces of art, and we were getting quite worried because they were all just kind of equally good. But then we got to see a film unlike everything we have ever really seen before. It was a film with a different approach on camera work, a different approach on making the colors work, a different approach on acting, a different approach on how to choose and speak to his target group, an overall different new approach on how to make a movie. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you one of the official winning films of the Crossing Europe Film Festival 2022. Everybody give it up for Youth-Topia. The prize will be accepted by Dennis Störmer and accompanied by the fact that I'm a part of the community, but I'm also a part of the community. I'm a part of the community. I'm a part of the community. I'm a part of the community. I'm a part of the community. I'm a part of the community. I'm a part of the community. I'm a part of the community. I'm a part of the community. I'm a part of the community. I'm a part of the community. I'm a part shaken by the music video. I'm still kind of crying, so this comes as another shock. You want to say something first? My reason for president is what I always say. Okay, you don't want to say something first. Let me get some words together I'm really really thankful this was such a such an amazing speech and it really really touches me and I'm super flattered and surprised it's it's been it it's been difficult to make this different film and but it's been a really nice journey and it was such a welcoming festival and screening was kind of the first real screening with an audience for me and I have to say that was really healing my kind of journey with this film because it was such a nice moderation and there was so nice questions and the whole atmosphere in the cinema was just what I always hoped It was such a nice moderation and there were so nice questions and the whole atmosphere in the cinema was just what I always hoped for to make this film, to reach younger people and create a discussion. It was really nice. Thank you. This is a really cool program. Thank you. This is a really cool program. Yeah, I don't want to make it too long. But to sum it up, this movie was about overcoming individualism to enjoy the power of togetherness. And we really tried hard to make it work, not only in the theme of the film, but also in the production. So this really is a film, not by two individualists, but by a whole team together. And really, I'm so thankful for the whole crew and cast. And thank you everyone who watches it. It's also part of the film. Congratulations. Thank you for being here. Please find your seats again. Thank you. One after the other. Yes, it's totally, I would love you to have another applause. So we, no, I'll just continue. We continue with the Social Awareness Award Best Documentary. This year's competition program consists of 11 diverse documentary films that deal with topics like war, religion, human adaptability and dignity to name but a few. First, let me introduce to you the international jury who had to decide on the European documentary with the most significant social or sociopolitical relevance for this award. Please join me on stage, Wouter Jansen, Antigone Papantoni, and unfortunately not here tonight, but also part of the jury, Anita Wettstein. Welcome on stage and thank you for being here. This award is sponsored by GfK Oberösterreich, Gesellschaft für Kulturpolitik Oberösterreich, and is worth 5,000 Euro. Joining me on stage will be the board member of GFK bei Österreich, Susanne Pollinger. Please. Yes, if you feel more comfortable, that's great. So my question for you, Susanne, is the theme that GFK bei Österreich has chosen for 2022 is exhaustion, a question of culture what does this theme stand for? Well we didn't really take it or use it because of you because I'm sure you will be exhausted, dear Katharina and Sabine thank you again for this wonderful festival, thank you for your team it's such a pleasure to be here it's such a pleasure to be part of this on the stage. And personally, I'd like to tell you, my son, he's 18 now, and he was a participant on YAS last year. And he's seen, I think, every movie this year. So it's really working. The joy and the fun and all these beautiful things you can see here. So I'm really grateful that we are part of this and that this is here. Well, we have chosen the topic exhaustion because I think it's scarily relevant at the moment. Our nature, our planet, everything is on the edge. The individuals, the society, we're all really exhausted. And exhaustion means I can't do it anymore. You know, it's over. But there's also a little bit of resistance in exhaustion. So it means a resistance to say stop. You know, why I'm here? Why I'm so exhausted? And to change the circumstances. So that's why we've chosen this topic. We as GFK, we would like to, you know, make the society better, to make the world a better place and we want to raise the resistance, the spirit of resistance beyond, we want to go beyond the exhaustion, so that's why we've chosen the topic and that's why we're very happy to contribute our prize to you. Thank you so much, powerful message, thank you. Thank you so much. Powerful message. Thank you. So please, may I ask the jury to announce the winner? So, our jury statement. The director lets us into a world through the use of a decisive camera and tells us a layered story. A mythology fueled by nostalgia and idealism which is hardly imaginable anymore. An empowering portrait of the working class that shows them as individuals in charge of their own future, making their voices heard in their self-created agora. The film shows a microcosm of contemporary capitalist society and acts as a strong critique and reflection upon important questions that we should be asking in our current 24-7 economy. So, ladies and gentlemen, today is International Labour Day and we are particularly happy to announce that the Crossing Europe Social Awareness Award for the Best Documentary Film goes to Factory to the Workers by Svetlana Kovacevic. So today, the producer, Sabina Kresic, will receive the prize in his stead. Thank you so much to the jury and to all. We are so happy that we have this award. It's so important to us, especially on this International Labor Day. It's very symbolic, and we want to dedicate this award to all workers in this world for better conditions, more human conditions, for spending more time with families, friends, whatever you want to do. So thank you so much for this. Congratulations. Thank you. I love that spirit. Thank you. So we move on to the Crossing Europe's competition for the best feature film of young European directors. Here we present an audience award and a jury award. For announcing the audience award, best fiction film worth 5,000 Euro powered by Landeburger Österreich Kultur, I invite the Provincial Counselor Wolfgang Hartmannsdorfer on stage again. Please join me. And since it is an Audience Award, there is no jury involved. Herr Hartmannsdorfer received already the envelope containing the winner on this way up on stage and please announce the winner for us without further ado. We're all eager to see the winner and the audience award goes to Unmonde Playground Laura Wandel. Herzlichen Glückwunsch. Please join us on stage. Congratulations again. Good evening. I'm so happy and so proud that Playground has won the Audience Award. This prize means a lot for me, especially because it comes from parce que c'est pour eux que je fais des films. Je voudrais donc remercier l'audience du fond du cœur pour cette belle reconnexion de des années de travail. Le film est enregistré en Australie depuis ce dimanche. J'espère que c'est un bon signe pour la vie du film en Australie. Je voudrais aussi remercier le Festival Crossing Europe pour l'invitation et Stade Quinault for their trust. Thank you very much and I wish you a good evening. Congratulations. Thank you. The 11 films in competition for Best Fiction Film offer a thematically broad spectrum of stories from private to social, political, and invite you on a passionate journey across Europe. Now it's time for our fourth and final jury, the Crossing Europe Jury for Best Fiction Film. Please join me on stage, Jakob Kias, Uggis Olte, and again, not here with us, but also part of the jury, Isabel Jacobs. Wonderful to have you here. Thank you. The Crossing Europe Award for Best Fiction Film is the last award of the evening and it comes with a prize money of 5,000 euro, powered by the Department of Culture of the City of Linz, Linz Kultur. For the award sponsor, please welcome with me on stage the representative of the Mayor of the City of Linz, Councilwoman Merima Zukan, and Doris Langmeierhofer, City Councillor of Culture, Tourism and Creative Industries. Welcome. You can choose, if you feel more comfortable with this microphone, it's perfect also. So, Mia asks Frau Langehofer-Meyer, with the new leading team, what would you wish for the Crossing Europe Film Festival in the future? Yeah, we heard it. After 18 successful years, the management of the Crossing Europe Film Festival is in new hands. And therefore, also from my side, big thanks and congratulations to Sabine Gebetsreuter and Katharina Riedler. I think they are a perfect match and a great director's team, a great new director's team. A big applause to you again. Yeah, and ladies and gentlemen, in this time and in this worldwide situation in our society, I think we need more personal and cultural exchange, more than ever. And Crossing Europe gives us these international exchanges here in our city, and therefore we are so proud to have this international festival here in our UNESCO City of Media Arts and I wish also from my side all the great artists here in our city all the best wishes and yeah all the award winners congratulations and a big thanks from my side from the City of Linz and thank you to the whole festival team. Thank you. And I'll just place a second question with you, Frau Zuckern. Where do you see the importance of a film festival across Europe for the city of Linz and do you have a personal connection to the media film? First of all, I would like to convey you the warmest regards of the mayor of Linz, Klaus Luger, and to ask you a question. I think we need more film festivals like Crossing Europe, as Crossing Europe gives especially young filmmakers the opportunity to show us their art, their movies, to make experience and also to celebrate together. And as a representative, I think that Crossing Europe suits very well Linz as they are both down to earth. as they are both down to earth. And this is also my special, my personal connection to the medium film. As I don't like to watch films with fancy stuff or something like that, I like to watch films which convey a message and also which shows us the uncomfortable truth of the reality so thank you. Thank you. Rauzuka may I ask you to take carefully the snow globe and now may I ask Juri to announce the winner. Let's do it. So let me start like a personal note so thank you very much thank you for having us for giving us a special program providing us with a special program the wide range of European cinema like from my side being here like for over ten years each year I must admit that really like Crossing Europe did like for me kind of educational work in my professional career film career so I'm very happy to be part of this jury unfortunately Isabel our third fellow jury member has had to leave And we're gonna start differently. So the winner of the main fiction prize is Silent Land by Agnieszka Woszczinska. It's gonna be that long. Every one of us knew that this was the winning film. The only thing we had to discuss was why. And here's what came up. Aga Wojcinska's Silent Land is an impressive, subtle debut that achieves everything that cinema can do. It has an excellent cast, efficient cinematography, an imaginative sound design, and so on. Silent Land is timely, deeply gripping study of relationship and alienation that forces the viewer to tolerate ambiguities. The horror lies in ourselves and our reluctance to act on behalf of others. This is really important in our view. The film shows rarely explored dark corners of human nature. Europe in this view is a complex space of individuals that merely coexist. It is scary because we recognize it immediately. The characters are trapped within their own behavioral shape by economics and social factors. In this world, there's no black and white, but only multiple shades of gray. There's no simple exit, no cheap solution, no tendency to moralize, no forced attempt to comment on bigger issues. Bartosz Swinarski's cinematography is minimalistic and atmospheric. No shot is superfluous. There's an airy perfection to the film language. Maszynska only shows us what has to be seen. It is a unique mix of hyperreal and magical. Silent land is larger than life and yet rooted in the experience of what it means to live in globalised Europe. Thank you for your statement. Aga cannot be here with us tonight, unfortunately. So I asked Sabine, as co-director of the festival, to join us on stage. She will make sure that the winner will receive the prize. I will do so. Thank you, Sabine. So congratulations again. It's a wonderful picture. Thank you. Please find your seats again. And now we'll have the pleasure to watch the video message from the winner. Hello, good evening. I would like to be with you, but unfortunately I couldn't come to Austria, but I feel really honoured and I would like to thank you to the jury, festival my wonderful crew, cast and producers for this award because it was not only my job. But my film, The Silent Land, for me is about being silent. I mean, like closing our eyes and ears for the tragedy of other people. It's a film about passivity and conformity, treated as a strategy of survival for wealthy people, who in my film symbolize Western world, actually. And thinking of what is happening next to my border, this barbarous war, I hope that the message of my film will have a deeper meaning yeah, thank you, thank you so much bye applause applause applause applause and we've reached the end of this evening and for me there's only left to say, continue to enjoy the film screenings. Tomorrow, Monday, is a full screening day. And in the evening at 8 p.m., you can see the awarded film Silent Land and watch the closing film Alle reden über das Wetter. Until the 2nd of June, you can enjoy 10 chosen movies on the streaming platform VOD, Video on Demand. It is meant to be an inclusive online offer for all film fans who are, for whatever reason, not able to join the live experience of the festival. The music that frames the ceremony comes as a courtesy of Shash Records and can be found online on bandcamp.com. All the wonderful award winners and sponsors and jury members, please stay for the photos. Now, enjoy the takeaway drinks. We can get together on the carplatz and continue to celebrate or enjoy the music with Egyptian Eclipse and Stochenbein in Solaris. Last but not least, Crossing Europe Film Festival will be back next year and we hope you'll be joining us again. Thank you so much for being here with us tonight. Have a wonderful evening.