The best film in the International Competition is The Masterpiece, Hurikán takes the audience award

The prize for the best film in the International Competition of the 19th Pragueshorts Film Festival went to Spanish director Àlex Lora’s​The Masterpiece, a suspenseful story about class differences and prejudices in contemporary society. Special Mention went to two films: Teenage Cowboy by Swiss documentarian Matteo Gariglio and Diamond Beauty by Hungarian director Anna Korom. For the Audience Award, the festival’s viewers cast their votes for director Jan Saska’s animated film Hurikán, which recently won the Critics’ Award for Best Short Film and has been nominated for a Czech Lion for Best Animated Film.

In director Àlex Lora’s The Masterpiece, a rich Spanish couple, Leo and Diana, meet a pair of scrap dealers at a junkyard. When Diana invites them to come to their home for some more old things to take away, she discovers that the two poor immigrants are in possession of something that she herself desperately wants. According to the jury, which consisted of sound engineer Michaela Patríková, editor Filip Malásek, and actress Alžběta Malá, the film stood out for its “complexly constructed directing in terms of both form and content.” They jurors “also appreciated the film’s topical social statement and its balance between sound and visuals.” Masterpiece previously enjoyed positive responses at dozens of international festivals, including Sundance, where it won an award for best short film. The award in the Pragueshorts International Competition comes with a financial prize of 3,000 euros. 

Special Mention went to Hungary’s Diamond Beauty and the Swiss documentary film Teenage Cowboy. The main protagonist of director Anna Korom’s Diamond Beauty is woman who is addicted to plastic surgery. “The film is a perfect portrayal of the main character Maria, who is struggling with the inner doubts and expectations associated with the established idea of female beauty,” the jury said in its statement. The jury appreciated Swiss documentary filmmaker Matteo Gariglio’s Teenage Cowboy “for its sensitive portrayal of the real-life character of Michel and his inner emotional world amidst the raw atmosphere of the mountains of the Abruzzo region in Italy.”

All of the awarded films will be available for online viewing at the KVIFF.TV streaming platform.