The Winner of the 14th Ostrava Kamera Oko Festival is the Film Who’s Stopping Us
The fourteenth edition of the International Film Festival Ostrava Kamera Oko (OKO), with a theme Sous les pavés, la plage! screened more than thirty short and feature films, several thematic screenings, and held masterclasses and an audiovisual night.
In the Official Selection – the main competition of the festival – the award went to the film Who’s Stopping Us by director, screenwriter, and cinematographer Jonás Trueba. The Special Jury Prize went to Vasco Vian’s Nation of the Brave. The festival attended more than 650 spectators from 28 September to 2 October 2022.
The three-membered jury, namely Edita Kainrath, Nelisa Alcalde, and Harsimran Kaur Anand, awarded the film Who Is Stopping Us (Quién lo impide, directed by Jonás Trueba, 2021). They praised the time-lapse documentary colossus and the fragile portrait of the young generation for its “casual engagingness and subtle timelessness.” At the same time, the jury, composed exclusively of female cinematographers, awarded the Special Prize for Technical Precision to Nation of the Brave (Nação Valente, directed by Carlos Conceição, 2022), which shows the world through the eyes of an occupier sent to defend the territory from its own inhabitants. Cinematographer Vasco Vian was praised by the jury “for his cinematic brilliance in an unconventional war story, where he created and captured an extraordinary atmosphere underlined by great performances”.
The fifteenth edition of the Ostrava Kamera Oko festival will begin on 27 September 2023.
Ostrava Kamera Oko 2022 in a nutshell
The programme consisted of an Official and Curator ́s Selection, Short Film Competition, and Audiovisual Evening. It was screened at the PLATO Ostrava gallery, Minikino, Etáž cinema, and the newly opened premises of PLATO (City Slaughterhouse). In addition to the film programme, there were special thematic events and masterclasses. For professionals, the festival offered an Industry Programme that included a site tour open to the public.