Mezipatra Queer Film Festival [WEB ARCHIVE 2000--2012] - Bruce McDonald’s Trigger wins 12th Mezipatra

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Queer osvobozuje od tradič- ního vnímání sexuálních a genderových identit založe- ných na neměnných katego- riích muž / žena, hetero-sexuální / homosexuální.

Bruce McDonald’s Trigger wins 12th Mezipatra

 

Central Europe’s largest queer film festival awards best queer films in three categories. The Main Jury Award For the Best Feature Film goes to the Canadian film Trigger . The international jury chaired over by Tom Kalin appreciated brilliant dialogues and a concise portrait of people in middle age.

 

The jury was impressed by the strong competition selection and agreed that it was really difficult to choose from eleven competitive feature films one grand winner. This is why after much deliberation the jurors decided to award two honorable mentions.  "The discussion was very pleasant, lively and it was really hard to pick just three films, because many were exceptional," says Tom Kalin, the director of cult queer classics Swoon and Savage Grace, who presided over the jury. Along with Tom Kalin, the jury was composed of the Variety critic Boys van Hoeij, the Czech sociologist Jiřina Šiklová and commentator Petr Fischer.

The jury stated: „Unfolding in a single night, Bruce McDonald’s TRIGGER captures the emotional truths and battle scars shared by two aging rockers who come together after years apart. With enormous clarity and sophistication of performance, the film introduces its characters in a brilliantly written dialogue scene that manages to subtly depict these women with a few deft strokes. Screenwriter Daniel MacIvor remains wonderfully attuned to the voices of these two women and conveys with devastating understatement the regret and melancholy they both face in middle age. Despite stylistic choices we felt were uneven, the movie lingered on long after the screening and reveals the simple, truthful power that resides at the heart of this stirring portrait film.“

Daniel McIvor’s previous film The Whole New Thing directed by Amnon Buchbinder received Mezipatra awards in 2006, when both the Main Jury and audiences selected the same film, which happened only once in the festival’s history.

According to the jury the films Stadt Land Fluss and Weekend deserve honorable mention. The screening of Weekend received great interest from the audience, therefore the festival organizers added a screening. Finally, it won the Audience Award. The jury explained: “With a maturity of execution and featuring two remarkably well realized, fully-rounded performances, Andrew Haigh’s WEEKEND captures the elusive way that meeting a stranger can change the destiny of your life.  With a script that is funny, sexy and unexpectedly soul stirring, the film utilizes an ambiguity of storytelling that reveals the unexpected turns of desire between two gay men who bump together in the night.  With its use of observational long takes and its lack of sentimentality, WEEKEND manages to be both universal and deeply specific – one of the most truthful depictions of desire we’ve seen on screen between two gay men.“

Benjamin Cantu, director of the award-winning Harvest, was pleased that the film found a new audience: "Harvest was an experiment for all the participants and it is great when you support someone in experimentation," sent this message of thanks from sunny Berlin. The jury stated: “Despite the documentary-influenced “social realist” visual language of STADT LAND FLUSS, we found a lyricism and richness of emotion that transported us.  Featuring two remarkable performances by actors in a cast of non-professionals, the film was beautifully cinematic in its emphasis on behavior and its restrained use of spoken language.  Without condescension, this film sheds light on the lesser-known lives of gay men living in a rural setting and ends with a truthful and beautiful optimism.  A movie we loved for its detailed depiction of farming apprenticeships, we will not soon forget both the tenderness of these characters nor the witty visual pun of “washing carrots”.”

The Student Jury Award for the Best Short Film was awarded to Two Beds, a brilliant conversational drama-comedy for one room, two beds and one actress directed by Kanoko Wynkoop.

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Mezipatra is a Czech specialized film festival screening films with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender themes. The name Mezipatra in Czech means "mezzanine", i.e. the space between individual floors: a symbolic space for meeting of all kinds of people, regardless of their particularities. The festival is held annualy since 2000 and has attracted over 85000 visitors. The 12th edition took place from 2-8 November in Brno, 10-16 November in Prague and a selection of the program tours three other cities in the Czech Reublic. The festival screened 83 films in three competitive categories.

“The best queer festival I know” Tom Kalin, director (Swoon, Savage Grace)

“The best queer film festival ever”. John Cameron Mitchell, director (Shortbus)
“Mezipatra Film festival has become the respected registered partner of other film festivals taking place in Czech Republic.” Václav Havel
“This is a well-run and well-conceived festival. The events were very well attended, the program was thoughtful and varied and the organization was personal and efficient.” Jack Judith Halberstam, University of Southern California
“What it lacks in size Mezipatra makes up for in spunk. A recent awards ceremony traded dull pomp for porno as two couples—one straight, one gay—had sex on a dimly lit couch throughout the whole affair. That liberated attitude, plus a rich variety of associated seminars (most in English), draw a mixed queer/straight crowd. Who It’s For: Voyeurs, label dodgers.” Out Magazine

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Znělka 2011

Mezipatra 2012

  • Praha: 8.-14. 11. 2012
    kina Lucerna // Světozor
  • Brno: 16.-22. 11. 2012
    kina Art // KRYT(ISŠA) // Multikulturni centrum STADEC

Ocenění 2011