Jury statement:

Upon the jury’s recommendation, the ExtraVALUE Film Award 2014 will be awarded to two films and include a one-month stay respectively in New York for each director.

The first part of the ExtraVALUE Film Award goes to Sudabeh Mortezai for Macondo.

Storytelling is what the two productions share, and yet they couldn’t be more different. A feature film with an almost documentary narrative set in the environment of a refugee settlement and focusing on the coming-of-age of an 11-year-old boy. The film is impressive in its precise observation and its respectful and cautious exploration of foreign cultures and shows us that Macondo is everywhere.

The second part of the ExtraVALUE Film Award goes to Gerhard Treml and Leo Calice for the short-film project Eden’s Edge.

The second prize-winner chosen by the jury is a short-film series in several parts. Telling different life stories, it captivates us with its unusual visual resolution. From a bird’s eye view, in a single take, we watch the narrators as they perform tasks in a minimalist manner. Set at the edge of the Californian desert, the production shows us places of retreat and confronts us with life environments on the margins of society while presenting a multifaceted portrait of the area.

Jury:

Silvia Bohrn (cultural manager), Martin Rauchbauer (former director of the Deutsches Haus at NYU), Franz Schwartz (director of Vienna’s Stadtkino, 1981–2008)