Euregion Film Festival 2020 announces winners

Professionals Jury and Youth Jury decided on the winners.

Geplaatst op 21 maart 2020

The fifth edition of Euregion Film Festival was a special one. Due to the spread of COVID-19 we had to make the difficult decision to cancel this years festival. However, to support the selected filmmakers, we decided that our two juries would decide digitally on their winners. In that way we can honor the selected films and filmmakers as they deserve.

Juries

This year two juries were appointed to hand out awards for the films in the Short Film Competition. The professionals jury and youth jury. Both juries represent the three countries that form our 'Euregion': the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Members of the professionals jury were Joyce Spijker, Wisam Zureik and Karel Deburchgrave. The youth jury was formed by Emilia Pütz, Martine Pinckaers, Muriel Bujotzek, Nhi Nguyen and Valentin Birkelbach.

Both jury teams watched all the films in competition digitally and deliberated through online channels. We want to thank our juries for their flexibility and effort and time to make sure to honor the selected filmmakers in the best possible way.

Award winners

  • Best Film – UNLIKE TODAY, by Astrid Menzel

    • Jury statement: "Unlike Today is a touching film about the hardships of old age with an excellent script and some highly professional acting. Step by step we get to know the background of the old couple: he is a former doctor with morbid humour who wets his bedsheets but considers diapers ‘degrading’. She is the caring wife, who suffers from memory loss but keeps on nursing her husband. A heart-breaking portrait!"

  • Special Jury Prize – SOMETHING ABOUT ALEX, by Reinout Hellenthal

    • Jury statement: "An impressive film about a subject that has been dealt with in recent films such as Girl (2018) and Lola vers la mer (2019). While you think at first the subject is homosexuality you get information about Alex that points into another direction. There are some very successful and surprising twists in the film."

  • Youth Jury Award – SOMETHING ABOUT ALEX, by Reinout Hellenthal

    • Jury statement: "A strong and amazing film with a relevant theme, not only on the transgender-topic, but also support from your family and the struggle to break free. The script is cleverly written with great plot twists. The camerawork and acting are amazing. Although the competition was tough, this film clearly stands out in its great way of storytelling and use of style-elements." 

Euregion Film Festival

Unfortunately, all the live events of the fifth edition of Euregion Film Festival were canceled due to the COVID-19 spread all over the world. The juries reviewed the films online and chose their winners. Some masterclasses were held online as well. After months of hard work it was a heavy decision for our team, partners and volunteers to cancel the festival and we want to thank everyone for their support and hard work. We hope to be back with a live edition of the festival next year, in cooperation with several organizations in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.