The International Festival of Popular Science Films Prague Science Film Fest, which runs from 14 to 17 October 2024 at the Campus of the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, knows the winning films! The awards were presented during a ceremony at the Prague cinema Přítomnost. The films were awarded in four categories.
Sixteen films from France, USA, Austria, UK, Canada, Germany, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands competed for the title of Best International Science Documentary in the competition section of this year’s PSFF programme. The Czech Republic was also represented in the competition with Water Lost and Returned. This poetic documentary took home the Presidents Award from the festival. “The film presents an interesting contrast of water as a life-giving but also destructive element. (…) The film shows the investment of a huge amount of time, energy and technical knowledge that has gone into capturing the water cycle. Each shot thus feels like a carefully considered image.”
The student jury, composed of students from the CZU, was most impressed by the film Evolution Earth: Islands, which they said “is not just about fauna – it is a reflection on the adaptability of life itself. It forces us to rethink our understanding of evolution and our place in nature, and its power resonates long after the screening is over.”
The jury of the international competition, consisting of representatives of faculties and the management of the CZU, was won over by The Storm – Wildlife in Wild Weather by director and screenwriter Michael R. Gaertner. The jury praised the film for its visual and emotional captivation. “The film portrays how animals and plants in the forest prepare for weather changes, from the first signs of an approaching storm to its arrival and aftermath. This process of adaptation to alternating droughts and rains is captured in the film in a fascinating way, showing how amazingly the inhabitants of the forest are able to adapt to changing conditions.”
The highlight of the award ceremony is the annual Grand Prize, which the festival awards in cooperation with its partner festival Academia Film Olomouc. This prize is awarded to both the PSFF competition selection and the competition films from the AFO, which took place this April. The jury, composed of experts in the fields of science popularization and documentary film, awarded this prize of 10000 USD to Among The Wolves, directed by Tanguy Dumortier and Olivier Larrey. According to them, the FIlm “illustrates, as if by accident, the fundamental shift in science film that has taken place in the last two decades. From being a puppeteer and manipulator, the documentary filmmaker becomes a mere spectator, gaining much-needed distance. The film shows that building tension in a predator film can be done through a variety of methods and techniques. The attempt to overwhelm with brutality is replaced by completely different and more civil metrics: time, and most importantly, trust in the viewer’s ability to see.” They conclude that “this film gives hope that careful dramaturgy can be worth more than a single money shot. But despite this humanistic intention, the film does not obscure the reality of filmmaking: to capture the life of a predator, a documentarian must begin to think like one himself.”
The PSFF program continues on Thursday at the CZU, where this year’s new Audience Award will be presented at 7:30 p.m.
