Two awards for best film & best cinematography
Awards for best cinematography and grand prize for best environmental film
On Friday October 9th, SHEEP HERO won two more awards on the INF International Nature Festival, in Innsbruck, Austria. First Ton van Zantvoort was very much delighted to hear that he won the award for best cinematography. The award was chosen by the talented cinematographer Judith Benedikt and Christian Berger who was Oscar nominated for director of cinematography for Das Weisse Band, a film by Michael Haneke.
Because of Covid-19 it was not possible to go to Austria for the award ceremony, so Ton van Zantvoort recorded a video speech. It was just finished and send to the festival when he received the news that SHEEP HERO also won the Grand Prize of the city of Innsbruck for the best environmental documentary. The jury consisted of Johannes Kostenzer (INF Director), Adele Kohout (Deputy managing director of DOK.fest Munchen), Katja Trippel (journalist ARTE), Pedro Piñeiro Fuente (director of Ecozine), Katja Becker (filmmaker) and Nuno Escudeiro (filmmaker).
Oscar nominated Christian Berger reading the jury report of the cinematography award
happy director/ cinematographer Ton van Zantvoort
Jury report Best cinematography
Jury statement (Christian Berger)
An unsentimental yet sensitive portrait of a young couple who want to live life their own way. I can observe both what I see and what I cannot see. I experience through the spoken word, a rare quality in documentary works. In Sheep Hero, the camera allows us to participate, demonstrating such splendid use of drone images that I have not seen in a long time and where the atmospheric density and depth is increased so much so, that the film succeeds with a rare fusion of book/direction and camera.
(Original)
Ein unsentimentales und trotzdem einfühlsames Porträt des jungen Paares, das auf seine Weise Leben will. Ich kann beobachten, was ich sehe, und was ich nicht sehen kann, erfahre ich durch das gesprochene Wort. Eine seltene Qualität in dokumentarischen Arbeiten. Die Kamera lässt uns teilhaben. Außerdem habe ich schon lange nicht so einen guten Einsatz von Drohnen-Bildern gesehen. Sie kommen immer häufiger eher als Pausenfüller vor. In dieser Arbeit strapaziert er diese Technik nicht, sondern steigert atmosphärische Dichte und Tiefe. Dem Film gelingt eine seltene Verschmelzung von Buch, Regie und Kamera.
Jury report Grand Prize Best Environmental Film
An emotional portrait of an unconventional shepherd. With great camera work and an impressive closeness to his protagonist, the viewer is confronted with the clash of a traditional way of life and modern social conventions.
Original
Gefühlvolles Portrait eines unkonventionellen Schafhirten. Mit großartiger Kameraarbeit und einer beeindruckenden Nähe zu seinem Protagonisten. Der Zuschauer wird konfrontiert mit dem Aufeinandertreffen von traditioneller Lebensweise und modernen gesellschaftlichen Konventionen.
The film has won more than 20 awards and more than 35 nominations. The film is also still showing at various film festivals worldwide, such as this month on Pastoralismes et Grands Espaces, Official selection, Les Adrets, France
Workers Unite Festival, Official selection, New York, USA
UNAFF, United Nations Association Film Festival, Official selection, Palo Alto/ San Fransisco Stanford, USA
El Paso Film Festival, Best Documentary Feature Film nominee, Texas, USA
View all screenings on the site.
Festival Trophy Best Environmental film
International Nature Festival Jury
Last month SHEEP HERO won also 3 awards. This was the latest trophy of The President of the Polish Filmmakers Association Award that was won on the 18th Włodzimierz Puchalski International Nature Film Festival in Łódź , Poland, 23rd September, 2020
