Church INTERFILM Awards

The INTERFILM Jury at the 55th Nordic Film Days has chosen as winner of the Church Film Prize, endowed with a prize money of 2500 € donated by the church district Luebeck-Lauenburg, the film

I lossens time (The Hour of the Lynx)
directed by Søren Kragh-Jacobsen, Denmark/Sweden, 2013

Motivation: What drives a confused youth to commit a brutal murder? What incites a young female pastor to come to meet the young man? Will forgiveness and hope become possible in such a situation? Danish director Sören Kragh-Jacobsen copes in his feature film THE HOUR OF THE LYNX with these questions thanks to an ingenious narrative structure. He manages to connect brutal violence to spirituality. Through pastoral talks in the cramped prison cell and flashbacks to the snowy Saamy landscape, the director shows the boy’s deep psychological scar. The question remains whether any future will be possible in “the hour of the lynx”.

In addition, the Jury awards a Commendation to the film

Chasing the Wind
directed by Rune Denstad Langlo, Norway/Denmark, 2013

Motivation: In his film “Chasing the wind”, Norvegian director Rune Denstand Langlo tells parts of his personal story in a way that makes it highly understandable and can thus partly be integrated in one’s own biography. Thanks to the expressive imagery of the film and the genuine straight-forwardness of the actors’ performances, elementary themes of life are taken up. Outstanding shots of the surrounding Norvegian landscape underline the story, and their intensity goes largely beyond the local context. The film shows that life is much more than chasing the wind.