CinEast - Central and Eastern European Film Festival

It is everything cinema should be. It is sincere, it is poetic, it is dramatic. It deals with one of the most terrifying moments of anyone’s existence, which is the loss of a dear person. It is a profound portrait of death and life, and it stayed with me for a long time after watching it. Show it to a beloved, to your kids, to your parents – the urge you have after this film is to call your mom and say “I love you”. I can’t think of anything better to make a film about. Beautifully shot and masterfully executed by a young filmmaker – this is a win for cinema.

The filmmaker continuously surprises the audience through their confident approach to the story of a teenage girl forced to confront her own vulnerabilities. The film’s embedded musicality and visual language create a provocative sense of tension that speaks to different forms of violence bubbling beneath the surface. Via a bright leading performance by Jara Sofija Ostan and an innate sense of curiosity, we, the audience, discover the many faces of growing up.

For its appealing photography, for the elegant narrative style with which the difficulties of communication are overcome despite different languages and cultural differences. Finding connection beyond words. God Will Not Help deals in an unpretentious way with the themes of grief, sin, and religion, as well as strangeness or being a stranger as main themes, interpreted by wonderful actors and a striking protagonist.

Utemeljitev nagrade: »Navdušil nas je nadzor Gregorja Božiča nad vsemi vidiki Zgodb iz kostanjevih gozdov; s toplo fotografijo, pa tudi s hipnotičnimi zvočnimi posnetki, ki nas potegnejo v atmosferski, zavajajoči svet filma, na meji med fikcijo in resničnostjo, sanjami in spominom. Duh vsakega lika oživi z uvedbo nadrealističnih elementov. Slovenski režiser kaže redko sposobnost konstruiranja kadrov in narativnih struktur, ki dosledno zapeljujejo občinstvo. Redkokdo ima oko za vsakdanjo, a presenetljivo lepoto preprostih stvari, kot je igra med starci, starodavni gozd, osamljena hiša ali mlade ženske, ki pojejo in plešejo. Vsi smo v pričakovanju, da vidimo, kaj bo ta mladi režiser pokazal v prihodnje.«