For the 11th time, the Institute of Documentary Film handed the Silver Eye Award to the best documentaries from Central and Eastern Europe, which were submitted to the East Silver Market. The winner of the Silver Eye Award in short category was announced on October 27, 2019. The Silver Eye Award went to Pripyat Piano by Eliška Cílková. The Special Mention went to Aljona Surzhikova's Waiting for a Miracle. The winner in the feature length category will be announced during the closing ceremony of the 23rd Ji.hlava IDFF on October 28, 2019.
The international jury, comprised of Ingrid Beerbaum (International Short Film Festival interfilm, Germany), Laurence Boyce (PÖFF, Estonia) and Matt Lloyd (Glasgow Short Film Festival, United Kingdom), awarded Pripyat Piano (dir. Eliška Cílková, prod. Jindřich Andrš):
„The Silver Eye Award 2019 for the best short documentary goes to a poetic film that is a compelling combination of sound, image and tone. In dealing with the effects of a tragic event whose resonances are still felt today, the film explores ideas of absence and loss while also being a paean to the power of music, the resiliency of the human spirit, the need to survive and the refusal to forget. A remarkable technical achievement, an embodiment of brave filmmaking and symbolic exploration of hope amongst destruction, the award goes to Pripyat Piano directed by Eliška Cílková.”
The jury decided to give the Special Mention to the film Waiting for a Miracle (dir. Ajona Surzhikova, prod. Ülo Pikkov):
“The filmmakers demonstrated extraordinary bravery and presence of mind in keeping the camera rolling in the face of terrible personal tragedy. For its fearless honesty, the jury wish to give the Special Mention to Waiting for a Miracle by Aljona Surzhikova.”
11 films were nominated in the short category, and 10 films were nominated in the feature length category. The winner in each category receives not only a unique award trophy, but also a prize money of 2 500 € and a year-long festival service of the East Silver Caravan worth of additional 2 500 €.
The list of Silver Eye Award 2019 nominees – short documentaries:
Infinity is 50 Meters Away (dir. Daniel Światły, Poland, 2018)
Terraria (dir. Hanna Hovitie, Hungary, 2019)
The Day After the Afternoon (dir. Khosro Khosravi, Hungary, 2018)
Currents (dir. Katerina Duda, Croatia, 2019)
Wild Berries (dir. Marianna Vas, Hedda Bednarszky, Romania, Portugal, Hungary, 2018)
Blue Frontier (dir. Ivan Milosavljević, Serbia, Slovenia, 2019)
The Tough (dir. Marcin Polar, Poland, 2019)
Pripyat Piano (dir. Eliška Cílková, Czech Republic, 2019)
Waiting for a Miracle (dir. Aljona Surzhikova, Estonia, 2019)
Boundaries (dir. Yuliya Shatun, Belarus, 2019)
Then Comes the Evening (dir. Maja Novaković, Serbia, 2019)
