2012 World Film Festival Award Winners

Festival closed yesterday and I'm curious about the top award winner as seems to have an interesting story plus great visuals. The following are the honored films.

Grand Prix des Americas: Atesin düstügü yer (Where The Fire Burns), Ismail Günes, Turkey

Special Grand Prix of the Jury (tie)
Invasion, Dito Tsintsadze, Germany and Austria
Miel de Naranjas (Orange Honey) by Imanol Uribe, Spain and Portugal

Best Director: Jan Troell for Dom över död ma (The Last Sentence), Sweden and Norway

Best Actress: Brigitte Hobmeier in Ende der Schonzeit (Closed Season), Franziska Schlottener, Germany and Israel
Best Actor: Karl Merkatz for Angfang 80 (Coming of Age), Sabine Hiebler & Gerhard Ert, Austria

Zeniths for Best First Feature
Golden Zenith: Casadentro, Joanna Lombardi, Peru
Silver Zenith: Zdjęcie (The Photograph), Maciej Adamek, Poland, Germany and Hungary
Bronze Zenith: Inn i mørket (Into the Dark), Thomas Wangsmo, Norway

FIPRESCI Prize - World Competition: Atesin düstügü yer (Where The Fire Burns), Ismail Günes, Turkey
FIPRESCI Prize - First Film Competition: Casadentro, Joanna Lombardi, Peru

Ecumenical Prizes: Ende der Schonzeit (Closed Season), Franziska Schlottener, Germany and Israel
Special Mention: Anata e (Dearest), Yasuo Furuhata, Japan (starring Takeshi Kitano)

Cinemathèque Québécoise Audience Award for the most popular Canadian Feature Film: Karakara, Claude Gagnon, Canada and Japan

To check all award winners go here. All three winners of the best first feature awards seem very interesting, been reading a lot about Karakara and anything starring Takeshi Kitano is must be seen for me. Perhaps festival doesn't generate much buzz in international media, but fest is one of the few festivals that screen many international films which makes it a good source to learn about great films.

Cheers!