The 39th LGBT Film Festival closed tonight at the Slovenian Cinematheque, where the audience had the opportunity to see 24 feature films, 19 documentaries and 19 short films. The opening screening awarded the prize for the best Slovenian short film to A Worldly Woman of Indomitable Spirit by artist Huiqin Wang and visual artist and animator Andrej Kamnik.
At the end of the festival, the Pink Dragon Awards for the best film as judged by the public and the best film as chosen by the jury were also presented. Jury members Dave Kim, Programme Director of the PRIDE International Film Festival in Seoul; Clara Lhullier, Brazilian researcher and activist; and Ana Čigon, feminist and socially critical intermedia artist, chose among the feature films. This year's winner of the Pink Dragon Jury Prize is Liuben, directed by Venti Kostov.
The jury said the following about their choice:
A human's experience of the world is formed by many externalities. We should be all born equal, but the socio-political and economic environment has an enormous impact on our lives. Liuben maps the complexity of the experience of being gay, migrant, ethnically, socially, and economically oppressed. Through its naturalistic and carefully selected environments and intense story, the film meticulously explores the multifaceted dimensions of all its characters - from the main protagonists to the seemingly most insignificant roles. It shows a point of view of the reality of experiencing the inequality, stratification and heartlessness of Europe from the far edge. But the edge is also the locality that gives us a clear perspective of the reality and complexity of the world. Liuben wipes away all the obscurity that blocks our gaze and lets us see clearly the crudity of reality.
During the festival, the audience also judged all the feature films and gave the highest rating to Diego del Rio's All the Silence (Todo el silencio), winner of the 39th LGBT Film Festival's Audience Choice Pink Dragon Award.
In the Mexican feature film All the Silence (Todo el silencio), Miriam teaches sign language in the morning and works on a professional theatre production in the afternoon. She lives in a stable and passionate relationship with her partner Lola. Although her life is already very much connected to the routine of being deaf, her world begins to crumble when she discovers that she is losing her hearing. Although she has deaf parents, deaf friends and a deaf partner, she is faced with a difficult ordeal as she refuses to accept a world without sound.
The awards ceremony marked the end of this year's edition of the LGBT Film Festival, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary next year!