This year 8 films were in competition representing 10 nations and each of them were extraordinary women stories speaking about contemporary social tensions, motherhood, the subject of love and liberty. The favourite of the audience proved to be Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement’s film from New Zealand: What We Do In The Shadows.

This year’s awards were announced on the 18th of April at Uránia National Film Theatre in Budapest in course of the closing ceremony in the presence of the three jury members, Hungarian cinematographer Elemér Ragályi, artistic director of Midnight Sun Film Festival from Finnland, Timo Malmi, president of the Jury, leader of Serbian section of FIPRESCI, Borislav Anđelić, festival director, György Horváth and vice-major of Budapest, Alexandra Szalay-Bobrovniczky.

The Breaking Waves Award was given to young French director’s feature debut, Fidelio, l'Odyssée d'Alice. As Borislav Anđelić explained „Lucie Borleteau gave a vivid and atmospheric feminine touch to her first feature film about an independent female sailor’s search for love in the state of loneliness surrounded by an all-male crew. The film shows a great lead performance from Ariane Labed.”

Thirty-year-old Alice's occupation is rather unusual for a woman in French Lucie Borleteau’s Fidelio – Alice’s Journey: she works as an engineer on a freighter. She loves her job and does it competently but even in a greasy blue overall a woman will be a woman, with her heart, her desires and her seduction. A Locarno awarded French drama film about love, independence and desire with the powerful Ariane Labed in the leading role.

Jukka-Pekka Valkepää’s movie, They Have Escaped (He ovat paenneet) got the Special Jury Mention „for a very brave and unusual approach to disoriented youth who are against the traditions of Finnish society, played by two extraordinary talented young actors with a very impressive and visually outstanding cinematography.” This film presents another perspective of freedom in a poeticly narrated and photographed film. Two teenagers meet in a correction center. The boy is introverted, shy and the girl is very energetic. They escape together to begin their journey with a stolen car, sex, drugs and neverending scuttle.

Titanic operates as a Competiton Festival since 2005. This year 8 films were in competition. Beside the winner Ronnie Sandahl’s Underdog (Svenskjävel), Esra Saydam’s romantic movie, Across the Sea (Deniz Seviyesi), second generation south-corean-canadian director, Albert Shin’s In Her Place, Pakistani Afia Nathaniel’s first feature Dukhtar (Daughter), the first crowdfunded film in Greece, Stathis Athanasiou’s Alpha and Ana Lily Amirpour’s American romantic horror movie, A Girl Walks Home Alone were in competition.

The Audience Award was given to What We Do in the Shadows. This mocumentary follows the life of three vampires who are just trying to get by in modern society.

The 22dn edition of Titanic presented 52 films and was closed by The Visit, a Danish documentary from Michael Madsen. Danish Ambassador to Hungary, Tom Norring proposed the film to the gala audience. This film documents an event that has never taken place – man’s fist encounter of intelligent life from space.

Source: titanicfilmfest.hu/2015/