Recent graduate Joe Snelling picked up the award for Best Documentary at this weekend’s STIFF student film festival in Rijeka. His winning entry, The Waiter, The Scientist and Jenny, tells the story of a promising scientist with mental health issues who is now working as a waiter in Hastings.
According to the Rijeka jury: “This gem of a film presents a portrait of a very unique individual. The audio-visual portrayal of Marco’s life is full of surprises and twists, and the director never forgets that an ethical approach to the protagonist is paramount. Intimate, raw, and wild at the same time, the film bursts with humour and free spirit, reminding us that life is never black and white”.
Directed and produced by Snelling, and crewed by his fellow graduates of the UK’s National Film and Television School (NFTS), the documentary also claimed first prize at the All3Media Best Student Documentary Awards in London earlier this month.
At the three-day STIFF festival in Rijeka, 33 films from 20 countries were screened at the ART-kino Croatia cinema. The jury selected winners in three categories – of fiction, documentary and animation – granting honourable mentions in each. There was also an Audience Award and a new Cinehill Film Festival Award, which guarantees the winner a screening at next year’s festival in Gorski Kotar.
The award for Best Fiction Film went to A Capella by Polish author Marcin Kluczykowski, while the honourable mention was given to the Chinese film Wisdom Tooth by Yang Yixin. The Best Animated Film award to the Japanese film Shape of the Elephant by Sam Kuwe, the honourable mention going to Your Place in Line by Eden Grosman and Noa Gefen.
A special mention in the Documentary category went to Slovenian director Jure Stern for his film Domci.