Primanima Winners: ‘Small People with Hats,’ ‘Symphony No. 42,’ ‘Man on the Chair’

The 3rd annual edition of Primanima, a festival dedicated entirely to student work and debut professional films, took place last week in Budaörs, Hungary. Recent Royal College of Art grad Sarina Nihei won the grand prize for her film Small People with Hats. South Korean filmmaker Dahee Jeong picked up the best debut prize for her film Man on the Chair, which also won the grand prize at Annecy earlier this year.

Hungarian filmmaker Réka Bucsi won two awards—best graduation film and most promising Hungarian talent—for Symphony No. 42, which was made at MOME (Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design). Both Bucsi and Jeong’s Man on the Chair are Oscar hopefuls this year thanks to earlier wins at Oscar-qualifying festivals.

Primanima’s jury consisted of Estonian director Kaspar Jancis, Polish film curator and festival organizer Aneta Ozorek, and Animafest Cyprus artistic director Yiorgos Tsangaris. A complete list of Primanima’s 2014 winners is below:

AWARDS OF THE JURIES

Grand Prix
Small People with Hats
dir. Sarina Nihei, UK

George Pal Prize for the most promising Hungarian talent in animation
Symphony No. 42
dir. Réka Bucsi, Hungary

Best Debut film
Man on the Chair
dir. Dahee Jeong, France/South Korea

Best Graduation Film
Symphony No. 42
dir. Réka Bucsi, Hungary

Best Workshop Film
Villiams
dir. Gábor Mariai, Hungary

Kaspar Jancis’s special mention
Roadtrip
dir. Xaver Xylophon, Germany

Aneta Ozorek’s special mention
Sunstroke
dir. Morgane Le Pechon, France

Yiorgos Tsangaris’s special mention
Baths
dir. Tomek Ducki, Poland

PrimaSound: Best Sound Design
Ziegenort
dir. Tomasz Popakul (director) and Michal Fojcik (sound designer), Poland

Student Jury’s Favourite Short Film
Rabbitland
dir. Ana Nedeljković and Nikola Majdak, Serbia

AUDIENCE AWARDS

Gyula Macskássy Prize for the most popular Hungarian animation
Rascal Redemption
dir. Gábor Mariai, Hungary

Short Film Audience Award
Beach Flag
dir. Sarah Saidan, France

Children Jury’s Award
Mythopolis
dir. Alexandra Hetmerová, Czech Republic