Ramon Zürcher wins the New Talent Grand PIX

At the award show for the Danish filmfestival CPH PIX earlier this morning the jury gave the New Talent Grand PIX Award to firsttime director Ramon Zürcher for his film 'The Strange Little Cat'. The Audience Award sponsored by the major Danish newspaper Politiken went to the Belgian film 'The Broken Circle Breakdown' by Felix Van Groeningen.

At PIX's award brunch Friday the New Talent Grand PIX Award was given to the Swiss director Ramon Zürcher. With his German film 'The Strange Little Cat' Zürcher was chosen as the most promising new talent in the competition, among ten other debutating directors.





The debutating Swiss director Ramon Zürcher - the director of the film 'The Strange Little Cat' - is the winner of the New Talent Grand PIX award 2013.

Foto: Yann Houlberg Andersen Photography



The mystery of the mundane

In the jurys motivational speech at the award ceremony they said: "We spend an hour and a half in a stranger's kitchen, a location we all know. It shows the mystery of the mundane, everyday life through the magnifying glass of cinema. A film so specific it becomes universal".



Along with the honour, Ramon Zürcher gets a cash prize of 15.000 Euros, meant to help the director develop his new next project.



Belgian drama was the audience's favorit

Thursday night the votes from the audience competition were counted and, even though it was a close race between the Chilean film 'No' and the Belgian 'The Broken Circle Breakdown' it was the belgian drama by Felix Van Groeningen that stole the audience's favor.

The award comes in the shape of marketing through major newspaper Politiken for the film if its finds distribution in Denmark.



Danish journalist, Michael Bo, who presented the award said: "It was the sensitive Belgian bluegrass and the heartbreaking catharsic pain in Felix van Groeningen's 'The Broken Circle Breakdown' that won the hearts of the people who voted in the audience competition".



Award brunch at the waterfront

The awards were presented at a festival award brunch at Restaurant Julian beautifully situated on the waterfront in central Copenhagen.

About the films:



WINNER OF THE NEW TALENT GRAND PIX 2013



'The Strange Little Cat' by Ramon Zürcher



The Strange Little Cat'.



If the hardest thing is to make things look easy, then this minimalist gem of a German film is pure magic. Three generations of a family (and an orange cat) meet during the course of a long day for something that, if all things go according to plan, is meant to end with a dinner. We are in a small apartment in Berlin, and nothing is too insignificant to become a part of the symphony of chain reactions and coincidences that progress as the day passes, seemingly directed by an invisible hand.



In short, this is a both homely and deeply eerie sitcom, which could have been directed by Jacques Tati. With perfect precision and a sense of paradoxical, prosaic poetry, the debut filmmaker (and former video artist) Ramon Zurcher guides us into the surreal mystery of everyday rituals. An absurd world that you have to experience for yourself to believe. Distanced, but warm, and incredibly funny without trying to be so.



WINNER OF THE AUDIENCE AWARD 2013



'The broken Circle Breakdown' by Felix Van Groeningen.

'The Broken Circle Breakdown'.



The fact that a film has been a great hit in it's home country is far from being a guarantee that it will also work anywhere else. But fortunately, there are exceptions, like 'The Intouchables' - and this succinct Belgian drama has similar qualities and potential, even though the potent ingredients here are love, grief, friendship, sex and bluegrass. You cry, laugh and get swept away by the story, which starts off with a blow, when a six-year-old girl is diagnosed with incurable cancer.



However, the film is about the girl's parents, their turbulent relationship with both ups and down, and their spellbinding joie de vivre. He is a scraggy-bearded cowboy and lead singer of a band, she is a headstrong tattoo artist who becomes a member of the band. Infatuation, relationship, pregnancy, the first years with the daughter and their lives during seven years are told with elegant leaps forward and backward in time. And with the gripping performances by Veerle Baetens and Johan Heldenbergh in the lead roles, we are with them all the way. The film deservedly won the audience award at this year's Berlin Film Festival.