"Windows on Monday" by German director Ulrich Koehler is the winner of the Kingfisher Award, the top award handed out at the 18th Ljubljana International Film Festival (LIFFe), which ended on Wednesday after two weeks featuring 100 films.
"Windows on Monday" is Koehler's second feature film and has also bagged the top prize at last-year's Hessen festival. The LIFFe web page labels it a psychological drama with a touch of existentialism: the anatomy of disintegration of a modern middle-class couple.
The festival's international jury wrote that the film managed to revive and refresh one of the most frequently examined topics.
The critics' award, bestowed by the International Federation of Film Critics, went to "Just About Love?" by French director Lola Doillon, the Amnesty International Award to "XXY" by Lucie Puenzo of Argentina, and the Itak Award for best Slovenian short film shot with a mobile phone, to "Postaja" (Station), which was signed by a group of authors.
Proving himself yet again as a crowd-pleaser in the best sense of the word was Czech director Jan Sverak, best known for his 1996 success, "Kolya". Sverak's latest film, entitled "Empties", won the Audience Award and secured distribution in Slovenian cinemas.
This-year's LIFFe will go down as the first headed by acclaimed film critic Simon Popek, who succeeded the festival's long-serving director Jelka Stergel. Popek shifted the focus of the festival to national cinematographies and tributes to masters of contemporary film.
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