The 20 th Camden International Film Festival has wrapped the in-person portion of the event in coastal Maine with the announcement of awards in several categories, including one that will launch a filmmaker into the Oscar race. Kix , a documentary shot in Budapest, Hungary, won CIFF’s prestigious Harrell Award. Bálint Révész and Dávid Mikulán directed the film that charts the trajectory of Sanyi from “unruly” 8-year-old to young adult in need of a second chance.
“While there are many impressive films that give us a bird’s eye view of the failure of institutions and society, [ Kix ] showed us what it was like from the ground,” the Harrell jury, comprised of Poh Si Teng, Bing Liu and Courtney Sexton, wrote. “It was delicate and raw, and captured humanity over time.” The jury also awarded a special mention to Elizabeth Lo’s Mistress Dispeller , which made its U.
S. premiere at Camden after premiering at the Venice Film Festival and then heading to TIFF. Jurors praised that film as “a stranger than fiction story told with a masterful narrative craft while maintaining a nuanced approach to each protagonists’ perspective.
” CIFF’s Cinematic Vision Award went to A Fidai Film , directed by Palestinian filmmaker Kamal Aljafari. The jury, comprised of Jessica Beshir, Nicolas Pereda and Lukas Brašiškis, saluted Aljafari’s documentary “for its cinematic confrontation with the visual erasure of Palestinian history. In his film Aljafari masterfully.