NO BUDGET COMPETITION

Jury: Siegried Alexander Fruhauf, Christoph Girardet, Jane Topping

NoBudget Jury Award

The jury award of the NoBudget competition, 2000 Euros

The Masked Monkeys

Anja Dornieden, Juan David González Monroy, Germany 2015, 30:00 min

Jury statement: By using black and white 16 mm, the film starts as a knowing imitation of ethnographic films with which we are familiar, and this idea of imitation is mirrored in the „work“ that the monkey is trained to perform; an imitation of the powerful man. The narration is cleverly written and paced, confusing the roles of master and performer, calling attention to the impoverished position of not only the animal but the human trainer. The use of analogue film and authoritarian voice over resulted, for this jury, in a sublime experience. The film is open to interpretation, leaving the audience with existential questions regarding the spiritual and material world and our own attitudes towards the so- called familiar and the so-called unknown.

More about the film you will find here.