Awards

"The scale of the production, and the orchestration of the world within it, is very impressively done. Quite a grand short film!" One of the most impactful things about The Fishing is its opening - a grand wide shot of a lighting fixture being put on display. The space, which is framed within frames of information in the background (the building site) and the foreground (the talking wanders, and the handyman overseeing the lighting fixture). The assembly within this shot, which sees the impact of real time, and the poetry of stillness (somewhat similar to the likes of an Abbas Kiarostami 'take'). It is this opening moment that shows off the most as well, as there is a sense of orchestration with timing, and a general sort of choreography of the cinema within this singular space. Everything being shown here is in a particular order and for us to absorb as viewers. The second half of the film seems to drift further into a sort of Polish comedy. I say Polish deliberately here, as it bears a sort of grinning socialist comedic element that is both grim and entertaining, reminiscent of the late Krzysztof Kieslowski's work, say White. Its more entertaining than the first half, and is very much a fine pairing device to the first half. All in all the film tends to be best as its own thing, and it sure does it all very well. This is a fine piece of filmic execution and one that could have easily been extended into a feature, or copied and repackaged as such. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the filmmaker seems quite adept to being in touch with cinematic tools. That's why it is, after all, a winner. This is cinema finely presented!

The prize was given by head of the Jury director Lana Gogoberidze especially for the editing vision in the film and fascinating long opening scene.