GIEFF Student Award 2022 Ceremony

The student award giving ceremony was conducted in a hybrid way. Most of the jury memebers and some filmmakers were present in Göttingen. Some filmmakers were able to join online. The award ceremony was streamed online.

GIEFF Student Award 2022

The Jury (Mihai Leaha, Simone Pfeifer and Michael Westrich decided to award the GIEFF student prize to a film from and about India.

The GIEFF Student Award went to the film
The Lost Art of Seasoning
by Abo Arangham, Indian.

India, 2021, 58 min
Location: India

When ethnographic filmmaking turns into a pretext for reviving traditions there are important consequences involved. It mobilises the community to recreate the past out of memories and materialities and it becomes a vehicle for intergenerational dialogues and cultural transmission. The jury appreciated the keen depiction of the process of salt making and the collaborative intimacy with the last three traditional saltmakers in a remote village in the Himalayas.

Two Honourable Mentions

Additionally the jury awarded two special mentions.

One Honourable Mention went to the film
Boy Queen by Sai Nyi Min Htut, Burmese.

Myanmar, 2021, 19 min
Location: Myanmar 
Production: Yangon Film School e.V.

The jury would like to give a honourable mention to the film Boy Queen by Sai Nyi Min Htut. We were convinced by its sensitivity – the camera is always close but never obtrusive. And it takes us to a journey that renders visible the frictions of socially unaccepted identities in Myanmar – as well as the power of dreams and desires.

One Honourable Mention went to the internet presentation
Threshold People by Jenna Keiper , US-American.

Germany, 2021
Location: Spain

The jury decided for another honourable mention for the web documentary Threshold People by Jenna Keiper. The bold use of the multimodal and multimedia website offers visitors the experience of a day on the Camino de Santiago. The extraordinary rhythm of sound and visuals of the three-screen presentation of the immerse website convinced us in its focus on the embodied everyday practices of walking and the spiritual journey of four strangers coming together with anthropological explorations of liminal and transitional spaces.

Manfred Krüger Student Award

The Jury (Catarina Alves Costa, Peter I. Crawford and Dipesh Kharel) decided to award the Manfred Kürger student price to a film from and about[nbspIceland.

The Manfred Krüger Student Award went to the film
Half Elf  by Jón Bjarki Magnússon, Icelandic.

Iceland, 2020, 64,5 min
Location: Iceland

In this intimate portrait of a nonagenarian lighthouse keeper in the harsh coastal conditions of Iceland, around the time of his 100th birthday, the camera is never in the wrong place. It is an excellent example of what good and thoroughly thought-out camera work means in the making of a wonderful film. The camera always seems to be in the right place, at the right angle, the right length of shot, with the right framing at the right time, capturing those magical moments, such as when the main protagonist gets carried away in song, standing behind his walking frame, with family members, as well as the audience, fearing that he may stumble. It is a film oozing of storytelling, both filmic and traditional local, with the kind of camera work that fits it perfectly.

Two Honourable Mentions

Additionally the jury awarded two special mentions.

One Honourable Mention went to the film
Weaving our Paths by Cledson Kanunxi, Jackson Xinunxi and Marta Tipuici, Brazilians.

Brazil, 2021, 19 min
Location: Brazil 

This is the shortest film of the festival yet, in around five minutes, it manages to show us magnificent camera work of almost any kind. Close-ups, wide shots, travelling shots, all executed with perfection, it almost serves as a teaching aid in camera work but is of course not that, it is a nice film about a serious problem of disappearing languages and cultures.