ROTTERDAM.- Festus Toll and Simen Gjersvold are the big winners at the annual awards for final-exam show videos, films, shorts, and animations. Festus Toll won the 2017 TENT Academy Award on Saturday evening 27 August. Simen Gjersvold won the Best Foreign Film Award, the award for the best exam-show video by a young artist from Norway. Igrayne Hörmann’s film won the Public’s Choice award. The awards were presented by the jury, chaired by Rutger Wolfson, at KINO cinema in Rotterdam.

TENT Academy Award 2017
We Will Maintain by Festus Toll wins the award for the best final exam video from art academies in the Netherlands. It is about a Kenyan child whose uncle predicts that a child of mixed Afro-European parentage will neither feel at home in Africa or Europe. Twelve years later, the child is a filmmaker examining the meaning of his uncle’s prophetic words. The jury appreciated the personal grasp of contemporary topics. Festus says about his work: ‘I hope my film captures two feelings: the inability to feel at home in a new country and the fear expressed by native inhabitants of becoming a minority in their own country due to the arrival of new fellow countrymen.’

We Will Maintain is also selected for the 2017 NFF Student Competition, the IDFA, and the IFFR. Festus Toll studied at AKV St. Joost Academy in Breda and wins a residency at Hordaland Art Centre in Bergen, Norway.

Best Foreign Film Award 2017
Simen Gjersvold wins the Best Foreign Film Award for his film I overkant, a self-reflective mockumentary about an eager film student trying to achieve his expectations and ambitions for his graduation film. According to the jury, it appeals to the familiar feeling of being a imposter. Simen Gjersvold graduated from Nordland College of Art and Film and wins a residency at Het Wilde Weten in Rotterdam.

Public’s Choice Award 2017
The Public’s Choice Award went to Igrayne Hörmann from Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht. Her film Red Crayons is about Syrian children learning a new language and telling about their experiences. It is an intimate take on a still-raging war and the difficult journey to a new home country.

The Award Ceremony
On Saturday 26 August, the nominees’ films were shown at KINO, and the jury announced the winners. The jury, led by Rutger Wolfson, former director IFFR, were Scott Elliott (artist, residency coordinator Hordaland Art Centre, Bergen), Roderick Hietbrink (artist), Priscila Fernandes (artist, residency coordinator Het Wilde Weten, Rotterdam) and Karen Verschooren (Visual Arts & Artefact programme coordinator, STUK, Leuven).

Screenings in TENT
Every Friday, during the Kunstavond on the Witte de Withstraat, TENT has free entry from 18:00 to 21:00. On the evenings of Friday 8, 15 and 22 September, a selection of the nominated video works are shown.