THE MAIN Grand Prix prize of the 41st international film festival Ekotopfilm was granted to the American film, Easy Like Water directed by Glenn Baker. The award ceremony took place in the Mirror Hall of the Primate’s Palace where the organisers granted together 21 prizes, the TASR newswire reported.
“It was a hard decision since there were many films of good quality,” said Bruce L. Bucklin, chair of the festival’s committee, as quoted by TASR. He saw all 134 competing films from 40 countries of the world.
The winning Easy Like Water movie is situated in Bangladesh where a visionary architect wants to build solar floating schools to turn the front lines of climate change into a community of learning.
The prize was given to US Ambassador to Slovakia Theodore Sedgwick, who also accepted the prize on behalf of another US film The Silkies of Madagascar that was awarded the prize of the Labour, Social Affairs and Family Ministry. Sedgwick said in his speech that the US embassy has been cooperating with this festival, which is the oldest of its kind in the world, since 1974.
The Prize of the President of the Slovak Republic was given to Like Fireflies film which tells stories of three Chilean women whose lives either have been devastated or will be badly affected by the construction of the dams. It was accepted by Italian Ambassador to Slovakia Roberto Martini, TASR wrote.
The documentary film Rare Earths won the main prize in Category A – Science and Technology. It depicts that digging for precious minerals means pollution, radioactivity and destroyed landscapes.
The main prize in Category B – Nature and Natural Science went to The Inland
Delta of the River Danube directed by Hungarian Szabolcs Mosonyi, which describes, among other things, how the construction of the Gabčíkovo hydroelectric plant affected the Danube.
Category C – Successful Stories of Technologies was won by Quest for Energy which brings spectators to India where four million people are ready to save their precious world heritage site with sustainable ways of living.
The documentary Growing Cities, showing inspiring stories of intrepid urban farmers, innovators and everyday city-dwellers who are challenging the way a country grows and distributes its food, won in Category D – Successful Stories of Human Activities.
The main prize in Category E – Investigative Journalism went to German director Brigit Hermes for her film, Sardinia’s Deadly Secret about a military firing range situated in the south-east of Sardinia. Though it is owned by the Italian Ministry of Defence, the area may be rented by other NATO members and private defence companies.
Category F - Children and Youth was won by animated film Vigia.
Among the awarded films was also a Slovak documentary, The Wolf Mountains which received the Prize of the International Jury.
“It is a film about return of the wilderness to Europe to the region on the boundary of three countries,” said Karol Kaliský, the co-author of the film, as quoted by TASR.
President of the festival Elena Kohútiková praised the festival, saying that its success was proved by the interest from abroad.
The festival will now tour regional capitals and 50 district capitals in Slovakia, TASR wrote.
