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Discover the award-winning films of the 8th Copenhagen Film Festival nomination categories and learn more about all the inspiring filmmakers we featured this year.
Best Animated Film Winner
Tennis, Oranges
A robotic vacuum suffering from burnout quits its job at a hospital and sets out to find community and a greater purpose on a quiet street where two lonely rabbits are stuck in perpetual loops. JURY STATEMENT: This short film was a delight. It has it all: a captivating and whimsical story, original lively animated characters, playful cinematography, good timing, beautiful sets and great sound design, not least a good balance between humor and seriousness. I loved the scene where the robot vacuum cleaner offers its services as a segboard, because of its superb animations and the crazy concept bringing these two very different beings together in this imaginative way.
Sean Pecknold
Best Comedy Winner
The Livestock at the Manger
A slice of life story about a Christmas Eve, set in the nineties. In the household of a Belgian family. Spoken in their strange dialect. Comical, but tragic if you ask the narrator.
Julie Vanlerberghe, Breyten Van Der Donck
Best Danish Film Winner
Aquari
NANNA (20s) and MARTA (20s) have been best friends since high school and for just as long, Nanna has been secretly in love with Marta. One night as they visit Marta’s childhood home, an opportunity arises as Marta comes on to Nanna and wants to be with her. But will Nanna dare to seize the chance and potentially put their friendship and her heart on the line?
Leo Clara Mendes
Best Drama Winner
Medicine
When Marjorie and Jack offer their help to a passenger and things take an unexpected turn, one wonders who was actually helping who. JURY STATEMENT: The director tackles an important issue in today's society by showing the difference between how we like to see ourselves and the assumptions we may still carry deep down. As the world becomes more diverse, this short film deserves praise for telling a story about accepting other cultures in a unique and original way. It’s brilliantly executed, taking an unexpected turn that urges the audience to reflect on what they would have done in the same situation. Its simplicity is powerful, drawing the audience into the film's theme and creating an emotional connection that stays long after the credits.
William Amos McKegg
Best Experimental Winner
We Are Strange
A playful, sometimes wry and in the end dramatic sketch of us, humans (and other animals) seen ‘through the eyes’ of a newly made human in the womb: what kind of world will I live in and what will be my part? And what stage of evolution are we actually in?
Han Hoezen
Best Feature Documentary Winner
La Colonial
La Colonial is located in one of the oldest working-class neighborhoods in Mexico City. Today, it shelters a community of men, who, faced with the adversity and marginalization of contemporary society, have build a home within themselves.
David Buitrón Fernández
Best Feature Film Winner
Itu Ninu
In the not-so-distant future of 2084, Ángel finds himself trapped as a climate migrant in an unspecified smart city, under constant surveillance. Amidst a bleak and oppressive existence, Ángel makes a living by cultivating plants, preserving the fading wisdom of seeds. Within this desolate landscape he crosses paths with Sofia, another climate migrant who works at a recycling facility. Fate intertwines their lives when a chance encounter reveals an unexpected connection: a shared language. Fueling Ángel's longing for human connection and a glimmer of hope, he reaches out to Sofia. Aware of the omnipresent digital monitoring, Ángel decides to communicate with her through the timeless medium of pen and paper, fostering an intimate, clandestine bond. As their secret correspondence unfolds, a friendship grows between Ángel and Sofia as does their desire for liberation from excessive control.
Itandehui Jansen
Best Music Video Winner
Sundayman – Go
Having experienced an infinite amount of days, sitting in back seats, observing our parents through rear view mirrors, we felt the need to tell this story as if for once, we were them. This is a story based on real life. Our own lives. Carelessly cruising the greek countryside and island roads while trying to glimpse into the psychological world of our parents. Unaware but yet fully immersed in their universe. This is the story of our mothers, that so well managed to gatekeep their own trauma from us, raising a shield of love and affection around through thick and thin.
Giannis Gripeos (Danny & Loco)
Best Short Documentary Winner
A full life, I suppose.
A full life, I suppose is a filmic portrait of the time shared between the filmmaker and his mother, Androulla, combining new 16mm material shot during his recurring visits to Cyprus with Super 8mm footage shot by his father in the 1970s to chronicle the evolution of bodies and the desires that mark a life. Attempting to balance between observation and construction, the film captures dailiness and domesticity while transfiguring Androulla’s body and inhabited space through close-ups, double exposures and time-lapses. As segments of conversations between filmmaker and mother about her life wander mostly sync-free over the images, encounters with light and darkness in the nooks and furnishings of her otherwise ordinary dwelling arouse a sense of unreality. JURY STATEMENT: Out of the three short documentaries nominated as ‘Best Short Documentary’, which all framed important topics and stories, I chose ‘A full life, I suppose’ due to its search for a different narrative form and and visuality to express the story, feelings, memories, time shared between the director and his mother. Although the film plays with everyday atmosphere and trivialities, which might not seem important at first glance, there is a deeper universal urge to capture the existential space between son and mother that connects and divides the two of them, and to capture how life is lived and passed on.
Alexandros Pissourios
Best Short Film Winner
Lucienne in a World without Solitude
In a world without solitude, where everyone shares their life with their double, Lucienne has a relationship with Paul, a former lover who has lost his twin. While she desires his love, Paul only wants to find his brother. Individualism and exclusive relationships are not tolerated in this world which increasingly inspires Lucienne disgust. Her desire takes her away from her sister and probably from this man.
Geordy Couturiau
Best Student Film Winner
In Between
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been ongoing for over a year. The 21-year-old Ira, along with her mother, finds herself in a foreign Germany, cut off from her home, family, and friends, seeking solace. After many doubts, she resolves to breathe new life into her neglected passion for swimming. That leads to an encounter with an old friend with whom she openly discusses her struggles and thoughts for the first time. In Between explores the sentiments and the emotional state of refugees, providing an intimate glimpse into their lives. JURY STATEMENT: Beautiful, poetic images, in interaction with a constantly trembling sound design and score, tells the touching story of the young woman, Ira, who seeks solace in her new daily life. Moving relationships are portrayed through natural and well-acted performances, showing Ira's life as she resumes her old passion, swimming. Water plays a role in a sensory layer, poetically enveloping the narrative. You are left with an insight into a young life facing a difficult and incomprehensible situation, where finding recognition and cohesion brings hope.
Ilja Kislitsyn