This weekend, the fifth edition of the "Dea Open Air 2018" International Film Festival was successfully closed in Saranda.
The traditional gala awarding evening was held for the second time at the "Bougainville" tourist complex, which is also one of the main supporters of "Dea Open Air 2018".
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Letter to the Reader — Why We're Asking for Your Support ContributePresent at the official award ceremony were filmmakers, actors and directors from Europe and the world, cultural and business personalities, artists of other art genres, diplomats, media representatives, students, friends and well-wishers.
"Even the program of this festival revealed again a variety of cultures, styles and individualities, which are imposed", - said Edmond Topi, director of DEA OPEN AIR International Film Festival.
"In a time of so much violence and arbitrariness, culture remains the only peace and way out, and its prominent contributors the only spiritual leaders. That is why it is so important that we spread and promote it", said Topi.
For the artistic director of DEA OPEN AIR International Film Festival, Mirela Oktrova, "to organize a film festival, it is not enough to compile a list of films and filmmakers, find the place and secure the financial resources. Organizing a film festival means, first of all, defining the dimension where film and filmmakers meet society and the mark they will all leave on its culture.
At the foundation of this festival was the belief that culture does not gain legitimacy with conformity, but with social responsibility, not by agreeing to the conditions, but by seeing itself as a promoter of social development", said Oktrova.
The festival was also greeted by the former ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Albania, Hellmut Hoffmann, the guest of honor of this edition. He referred to the importance of such events in intensifying exchanges between cultures, the variety of artistic contributions in this edition, the large number of authors present and the interest of the public to discuss with them after the respective films, the quality of the film offer and not finally, the importance of the event for the image of the country and for the cultural offer of a tourist city like Saranda.
After the greetings, the three festival juries announced their decisions.
In the short film section, 31 films competed, divided into two subcategories: the international competition and the student competition. The extensive geography of the selected films was well combined with the evaluations and social observations of their authors, who preoccupied this year the relationship with the dream, the management of depression and the processing of the past, the relationship between freedom and security of the individual, couple relations, corruption and self-knowledge, the relation of dignity to well-being, of humanity to fanaticism, and human relations in exceptional conditions.
The jury of the short film, which followed this competition, composed of: Dominik Streib (pedagogue – Germany); Kimete Berisha (senior cinematography officer - Kosovo) and Eliodor Markja (editing director - Tirana) shared these awards:
The DEA Cup for Best Idea (RTV 21 Award) went to the film Disaster – Belgium 2017, directed by: Séverine De Streyker and Maxime Feyers The DEA Cup for Best Editing went to the film Ours – France 2017, directed by Dominique Preusse . The DEA Cup for Best Director went to Jules Comes, for Saint Hubert – Germany, Belgium 2017.
The DEA Cup for Best Short Film was awarded to Talia – Toni Bestard – Spain 2017.
The upward trend in the number of DEA OPEN AIR applicants was confirmed this year as well. Applicants approached the festival on the Film Freeway and Festhome platforms, or by direct route – from European countries and beyond, giving the participation an intercontinental geography. After the preliminary selection, closed at the end of March, 6 films from Albania, Germany, Spain, Russia, Portugal, Switzerland were included in the Feature Film Competition for the DEA Awards. In the center of attention is the third age, its social position and the commonalities and particularities with other generations of society, happiness as a target status and the paths and recipes towards it, the relationship between social comfort and dignity, the individual's relationship with himself , the psyche, with the community and its challenges and the overarching theme of a better life.
The jury of the feature film, consisting of: Clemens Erbach (director - Germany), Isabelle Welter (producer - Austria), Rusomir Bogdanovski (Screenwriter and script teacher - Macedonia), Genc Përmeti (screenwriter and producer - Albania), Luan Kryeziu (director and screenwriter - Kosovo), shared these awards: The DEA Cup for the best screenplay in a feature film went to: Luis Diogos for the screenplay of the film Sublime Life - Portugal 2018.
The DEA Cup for Best Cinematography in a Feature Film was awarded to cinematographers Ilya Kondratiev, Dmitry Polyakov and Alexei Galkin for the cinematography of the film Lost Reflection – Russian Federation 2018 The DEA Cup for Best Actor in a Feature Film was awarded the Swiss actor Christoph Jungmann for the film Live Your Life - Switzerland/Germany 2018. The DEA Cup for Best Director in a Feature Film was awarded to the German director Steffen Hacker for the direction of the film Temperament - Germany 2018 DEA Cup for Best Film with Long Film went to the film The Empty and Barren Sea – Spain 2018, directed by Lucas Parnes, Jesús Serna.
The DEA OPEN AIR International Film Festival also traditionally awards the Media Award, which evaluates the films of the competitions by the degree of civic engagement of the artistic creation in the form of sensitizing public opinion on important community issues. The media jury, consisting this year of: Ylli Sula (director of Çelësi Media Grup - Albania), Kamuran Goranci (director of the Arts Division in MKRS-Kosovo) and Eda Merepeza - journalist and translator, awarded two prizes: the Special Media Award in The Short Film Competition went to The Day Passes, The Morning Begins - Lina Erzen - Slovenia 2017 The Special Media Award in the Feature Film Competition went to The Sublime Life - Luis Diogo - Portugal 2018.
Considering bringing the audience closer to the film, as a challenge of the Fifth Edition of DEA OPEN AIR, in addition to promoting the activity and film product in the city and in the media, DEA shared this year the Saranda Audience Award, which this year went to the film Pola – Edyta Rembala – Poland 2017 and was awarded by the Director of Public Relations in the municipality of Saranda, Thoma Nika.
With 15 students competing in the short film category this year, a jury of Mediterranean University students evaluated them to award the DEA Award for Best Student Film. This year the initiative of the Mediterranean University goes beyond the interest of its students - to watch, discuss and evaluate the film. This year, the Mediterranean University has expressed its willingness to support not only its students in the difficult path to film, but also film students, in the difficult path of its creation, accompanying the Student Jury Award with a financial support of 1000 euros.
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The Student Jury Award was awarded to the film The Last Respect – Reut Dagbar Agami – Israel 2018. DEA of ACKNOWLEDGMENT for outstanding contribution to the field of cinema, awarded this year posthumously – to makeup artist Liljana Tesho. DEA HOMAZH, as a sign of respect for the work and sorrow for the loss, went to the talented director of photography, Leonard Qendro.
More than 2018 long and short films from over 1000 countries of the world applied to participate in the sections of the DEA Open Air International Film Festival 60.
The fifth edition of the DEA International Film Festival was supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Albania, the National Center of Cinematography and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of the Republic of Kosovo, which together with the municipality of Saranda created the necessary welcoming atmosphere for the artistic streams and citizen contributions from around the world.
Cinema specialists, directors of several other European film festivals, but also actors, directors, producers and invited journalists gave the activity the liveliness and multidimensional communication that activities of this type offer.