We won the Crystal Bear at the Berlinale!!!!! Such an incredible surprise! Our friend Martin took a millions pictures but we just need to get them off his camera and we'll put them up. In the meantime here are two press releases about it:
FROM THE BERLINALE WEBSITE
A number of different prizes are awarded in the sections competition programmes Generation Kplus and Generation 14plus, both to short films as well as feature films. Three juries cast their votes.
Awards 2011: On the Ice, Apflickorna, Manurewa, Get Real!
The members of the Youth Jury Generation 14plus, Faysal Asfaha, Jonathan Curio, Theresa Greiwe, Leonie Goebel-Künnecke, Roberta Huldisch, Oskar E. Levis und Tara Mauritz, give the following awards:
Crystal Bear for the Best Film
On the Ice
by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean
This film had us in its grip from the very first moment and it never let go, right up to the end. Between solitude and endless expanses, a stifling and constricting atmosphere has been created, using simple means. Our winning film took us off to a world that was totally unknown to us. A world where everything seems submerged in darkness, even though the sun never goes down.
Special Mention
Apflickorna
by Lisa Aschan
Showing your feelings makes you vulnerable. And being vulnerable makes you lose control. A game of love and power. A film that is confusing and disturbing, chilling and startling, it triggers an avalanche of thoughts and questions but also some answers.
Crystal Bear for the Best Short Film
Manurewa
by Sam Peacocke
In a very short time this film synthesises and skilfully compresses independent story lines and characters, merging them together into a single irrevocable, ever-changing moment. Our winning film is not only about perpetrators and victims, but also about human beings.
Special Mention
Get Real!
by Evert de Beijer
Aggressive, innovative and explosive. An attack on the senses. A film constantly walking the tightrope between deviance and brilliance. Hectic sequences of colour and plot and a wealth of detail. We have never seen a film like this before.
FROM SCREEN DAILY On The Ice wins Berlin Crystal Bear for Generation 14plus
18 February, 2011 | By Wendy Mitchell
Andrew Okpeaha MacLean’s thriller On The Ice has taken the Crystal Bear for best feature film in the Berlinale’s Generation 14plus section.
The members of the youth jury were: Faysal Asfaha, Jonathan Curio, Leonie Goebel-Künnecke, Theresa Greiwe, Roberta Huldisch, Oskar E. Levis and Tara Mauritz.
Of On The Ice, which premiered at Sundance and is being sold internationally by Coach14, the jury said: “This film drew us in from the first minute and remained gripping right up to the very end. Here, between solitude and endless expanses, a stifling and constricting atmosphere is created using simple means. Our winning film took us off to a world that was totally unknown to us. A world where everything seems submerged in darkness, even though the sun never goes down.”
A special mention went to She Monkeys (Apflickorna) by Lisa Aschan from Sweden.
The Crystal Bear for the best short went to Same Peacocke’s Manurewa from New Zealand, with a special mention to Dutch short Get Real! by Evert de Beijer.
The awards were presented tonight at Berlin’s Haus der Kulturen der Welt, followed by a screening of On The Ice.
