International Competition
Neil Beloufa with Kempinski, 2007, FR/ML, 15’

Neil Beloufa (Algerian/French, born in Paris in 1985) studied at Ecole des Beaux Arts and Arts Decoratifs in Paris. As an exchange student he studied at Cooper Union in New York and the California institute of Arts. Beloufa mainly works with video and sculpture.

The Jury:
An unusal and fresh documentary experiment. You have to see the film twice, to really get it. Beloufa made portraits of several Malinese people. He gave them these guidelines: Imagine how your future looks, but talk about it in the present tense. As soon as you know this you want to see the film again, to look for more details. Visions of the future, that to us are hopeful and spiritual. The futuristic feel of the film clashes with our western ideas about that part of the world. With some very simple elements Beloufa succeeds in building an effective scenography. The fluorescent light adds a futuristic feel to the filmed environment. The sounddesign is build on a simple element effectively: a humming noise strange to the context.  Light and sound support a coherent scenario.

International Competition
Isabelle Tollenaere with Stil Leven / Still Life, 2007, BE, 17’

Isabelle Tollenaere just graduated from the Hogeschool Sint-Lukas Brussels.

The jury:
A film that starts with a dead cat being hoovered, an image that I wouldn’t have expected to see. The mise-en-scene is happy and colourful. But something about the image is unsettling. It seeks a balance between cute and morbid.

The Prizes

The internatiol competition: Avid - the new Media Composer

The national competition: Eye-Lite - light and camera rental, Noise Reduction - sound, set and studio