Jun 12, 2022

Portuguese Short Film “The Garbage Man” Wins Grand Prize at Zagreb Anime Fest

On Saturday night, Animafest Zagreb wrapped up its 50th edition in 2022. The Grand Prix in the short film category was awarded to The Garbage Man (O homem do lixo), directed by Laura Gonsalves of Portugal.

Gonçalves' film also won the Audience Award, marking the fifth time in the festival's history that the jury and audience have honored the same film. With this Grand Prix, the film has qualified for next year's Academy Awards in Competition.

The Garbage Man is a short documentary based on interviews Goncalves conducted with family members about his uncle, a sanitation worker in France for 30 years. The Zagreb jury panel praised the naturalness of the dialogue, the warmth and intimacy of the family setting, and “above all, the grace with which the film tells the story of Portugal's generosity in the face of political and economic hardship.”

Goncalves has previously explored the documentary genre with his graduation film Three Weeks in December, which was named Short Film of the Day by Cartoon Brew in 2017.

Other major short film winners at this year's festival include Hugo Covarrubias' Oscar-nominated Chilean short “Bestia,” which won the Golden Zagreb Award for creative and innovative artistic achievement; Zlatko Gurgi The film includes Tal Cantor's French-Israeli co-production “Letter to a Pig.” Tal Kantor's French/Israeli co-production Letter to the Pig also won the Zlatko Gurgi Award, and Cartoon Brew exclusively premiered the trailer for Kantor's film earlier this month.

French student films dominated the student competition, with all three winners (winner and special prize) coming from French schools.

The winner of the student competition was Butterfly Jam (La Confiture de papillons), directed by Si Yen Huang and produced at ENSAD. Using the metaphor of the endless death of livestock to depict the relationship between the filmmaker and her inattentive father, the jury praised the film for taking the viewer on “a hypnotic journey through the lifeless spaces of their home.”

In the feature film category, veteran Czech director Michaela Pavlatova's “My Sunny Maad” won the Grand Prize. The drama, adapted from a novel set in post-Taliban Afghanistan, was praised by the jury for its “masterful direction that blurs the line between despair and hope, surviving the pain of rejection and the warmth of acceptance.

The jury for the short film category included Paul Dreesen, Les Mills, Alex Dudok de Wit, Ana Nedeljkovi, and Igor Grubi. The Feature Film Jury was composed of Olga Perun, Aya Suzuki, and Anastasia Verlinska. The Student and Croatian Film Juries are Alexandra Ramirez, Jelena Popovi and Igor Plassel. vr Jury members are Eva Kvijanovi, Milen Alenpievi and Franziska Bruckner. The jury for the children's category was Emma and Jakov Barbarovi., Gita Gugo, Lala Spremo, and Nika Vrbani.

The full list of winners follows:

The Garbage Man (O homem do lixo) by Laura Gonçalves (Portugal)

Impossible Figures and Other Stories I by Marta Pajek (Poland/Canada) Thing (Ding) by Marte Stein (Germany) Swallow the Universe by Nieto (France) Steak House by Spera . Adeju (Slovenia/Germany/France) Skinned (Écorchée) by Joachim Hérissé (France)

Bestia by Hugo Covarrubias (Chile)

Letter to a Pig by Tal Kantor (France/Israel)

Butterfly Jam (La Confiture de papillons) by Shih-Yen Huang (France)

Mom, What's up with the Dog- (Maman, il a quoi le chien-) by Lola Lefevre (France) L'immoral by Ekin Coca (France)

11 by Vuk Jevremovi. (Croatia)

Letter from the Edge of the Forest by Jelena Olos (Croatia) Love in the Age of Coal Economy by Tomasz Siwi. ski (Poland/Croatia)

My Sunny Maad by Michaela Pavlátova (Czech Republic / France / Slovakia)

Dozens of Norths (Ikuta no kita) by Koji Yamamura (Japan / France) La traverse (La traverse) by Florence Mielier (France/Germany/Czech Republic)

Samsara by Hsin-Chien Huang (Taiwan 6]

The Adventures of Marco and Polo (Benjamin Steiger Levine/Canada/ Belgium)

“Pilopilo” (Myong Baek, Korea)

Garbage Man (O homem do lixo) by Laura Gonçalves (Portugal)

Crossing the Corridor (La traverse) by Florence Miailhe (France/Germany/Czech Republic)