This beautifully shot and edited film celebrates tradition, nature, and human tenacity. Its poetic and lyrical representation of a way of life touches us living in this globalized post-modern society.

The jury honours Butter Lamp for its narrative, visual and thematic compactness. Each of its eight shots bubble with wit and insight.

The film's simplicity and humanity show great sensitivity to universal human problems. In this story of a Chechen émigré family seeking asylum in Vienna, viewers can find a mature understanding of growing up amid political upheaval in the modern world. Young Ramasan Minkailov gives an extraordinary performance as a sensitive boy who must take on adult responsibilities and accept the fact of his father's death.

The winner is 10 minutes, for its incisive analysis of the special problems faced by young Koreans in family relations and the extreme competition in education and the workplace.

Set in the late 1960s during the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia, this film sets a high artistic standard for its portrayal of how one person's actions can become the catalyst for positive change and also for how it addresses issues of social justice, oppression, human dignity, as well as the struggle for truth, solidarity, and human freedom. These fundamental issues are as important to today's human society as they were during the time of the Cold War.

The story of the lives of a young hunter and a pregnant mother on a cold mountain is profoundly told through its excellent cinematography and editing. The short film exquisitely makes its mark on the coldness of Mother Nature and the lives of its survivors.

A work of stunning pictorial beauty, the film exhibits exceptional ambition in its portrayal of the harshness of rural life. The young filmmaker's willingness to take risks with demanding materia - as well as filming during several seasons and in a wide range of locales - create an expansive meditation on the price of progress and the loss of Japanese traditions.