The Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury headed by Jane Campion and including Maji-da Abdi, Nicoletta Braschi, Nandita Das and Semih Kaplanoglu awarded the Cinéfondation Prizes during a ceremony held today, followed by the screening of the winning films.

The Cinéfondation Selection consisted of 18 student films, chosen out of nearly 1, 500 entries submitted by 277 film schools around the world.

“The Jury were unanimous in their choice for the awarded films and want to congratulate the filmmakers for the excellence and maturity of their cinematic voices.”

“The Jury were unanimous in their choice for the awarded films and want to congratulate the filmmakers for the excellence and maturity of their cinematic voices.”

First Prize:
NEEDLE directed by Anahita Ghazvinizadeh
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Second Prize:
WAITING FOR THE THAW (En attendant le dégel) directed by Sarah Hirtt
INSAS, Belgium

Third Prize ex-aequo:
ÎN ACVARIU (In the Fishbowl) directed by Tudor Cristian JURGIU
UNATC, Romania

Joint Third Prize:
PANDY (Pandas) directed by Matúš VIZÁR
FAMU, Czech Republic

The awarded films will receive €15,000 for the First Prize, €11,250 for the Second and €7,500 for the Third.

The First Prize winner is also guaranteed that his first feature film will be presented at the Festival de Cannes.