Moderated by German actress and writer Annabelle Mandeng, the 34th European Film Awards ceremony, held December 11, saw the announcement of the winners across all remaining categories. 4,200+ members of the European Film Academy – comprising filmmakers from across Europe – cast their votes.
Danish Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s documentary Flee won in the European Documentary and European Animated Feature categories while Olga Lucovnicova’s My Uncle Tudor was lauded in the European Short Film category.
Flee additionally received the European University Film Award 2021, an honour conferred jointly by EFA and Filmfest Hamburg.
The multi-award winning Flee (BDE review) tells the extraordinary story of Amin (pseudonym), an Afghan refugee who came to Denmark at an early age as an unaccompanied minor. He has since created a successful new life for himself and is shortly to marry his long-term boyfriend, but a secret from his past threatens to unravel his world.
“It is an emotional moment for me to see Amin’s life story recognized by these important awards, and I would like to thank EFA members for their support. But most of all, I want to thank Amin for courageously sharing his story with me, and all of my producers and crew for making this film possible,” said Jonas Poher Rasmussen.
“I believe that the question of how to document personal suffering and human rights violations without exposing protagonists to further harm is one of the central ethical and aesthetic questions for documentary filmmakers. I am glad we found a way of using animation to help Amin tell his story in a way that felt safe, and we are overwhelmed by the enthusiastic response our film has been receiving,” he added.
In the European Short Film-winning My Uncle Tudor, after 20 years of silence filmmaker Olga Lucovnicova travels back to her great-grandparents house where she endured damaging traumas that left a deep lasting imprint on her memory. Her attempts to overcome the past force a confrontation at the long-awaited family gathering. The film was produced by LUCA School of Arts.
“Exposure is the only way forward, and is a very brave decision to take,” reads the Business Doc Europe review from Berlinale 2021, where the film world-premiered and won the Golden Bear Best Short Film. “Lucovnicova has managed to break a cycle of silence – her greatest and much deserved reward is the freedom she has given herself. All other prizes this film deserves might help increase the impact of this sensitive and artfully crafted document.”
