LSFF 2014 Grand Prix with financial prize of EUR 3000

Film: Microbirth
Director: Toni Harman & Alex Wakeford
Country of origin: United Kingdom

The jury awards the prize for the treatment of an important topic that affects every one of us. The jury especially appreciates that the film opens a discussion on how the way we are born can affect our health as well as the quality of our whole life. The film outlines the world of micro-organisms present in the human body, i.e. our microbiome.

Award of the Dean of the Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources

Film: The Gut, Our Second Brain
Director: Cécile Denjean
Country of origin: France

The jury grants the award for the interdisciplinary treatment and absorbing presentation of groundbreaking scientific discoveries in the fields of neurology and microbiology. The film concentrates on the field of natural science which sheds surprising light on areas that have so far been the realm of Freudian psychoanalysis.

Award of the Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Management

Film: Last Call
Director: Enrico Cerasuolo
Country of origin: Italy, Norway

In 1972 the book The Limits to Growth was published. Forty years later its spine-chilling hypotheses have turned into today’s reality. The jury grants the award for the treatment of the life stories of the authors of this book.

Award of the Dean of the Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences

Film: The Forest: Universal Pharmacy
Director: Nadège Damanée
Country of origin: France

Today, human activity globally affects and often also threatens the original natural riches that can be lost before they have even been discovered. The jury grants the award for the presentation of the stories of people whose main objective is to discover this wealth and to investigate its possibilities.

Award of the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering

Film: Urine Superpowers
Director: Thierry Berrod
Country of origin: France

Not many people know that we spend the first few months of our lives submerged in urine and that we produce over 38 thousand litres of urine during the rest of our lives. The jury appreciates the filmmakers’ approach to this topic, which is still somewhat taboo, and also the description of innovative approaches that find surprising use for our liquid waste.

Award of the Dean of the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences

Film: Conquerors: The Pine Processionary Caterpillar
Director: Vincent Amouroux
Country of origin: France

The effects of fluctuations in global climate manifest themselves all over the Earth. The jury appreciates not only the treatment of the topic of the spread of the processionary beetle and the wider consequences that are the reason for the migration of species, but also the ways in which people can react to this new situation.

Award of the Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences

Film: Super Fungi, Will Mushrooms Help Save the World?
Director: Anne Rizzo, Thomas Sipp
Country of origin: France

Fungi are ancient organisms that have developed together with the transition of life forms from the aquatic environment to dry land. The jury acknowledges excellent treatment of the latest scientific findings from the field of mycology, but also an interesting presentation of a wide variety of surprising possibilities that mycological fields offer today.

Award of the Student Jury

Film: WildWORKS
Director: Jan Svatoš
Country of origin: Czech Republic

Ancient wild countryside is irretrievably gone and, apart from a few exemptions, today’s landscape conforms to human activity. The jury awards the film for presenting the wild as a cultural phenomenon and for capturing discussions on the possibilities and consequences of the reintroduction of large mammals in selected locations in Europe today.

Award of the Minister of Agriculture

Film: The Family Farm
Director: Ari A. Cohen
Country of origin: Canada

Almost 80% of Canadian family farms will have a new owner within ten years, because their farmers are often of advanced age. Agricultural technologies develop at rapid speed and small farms are taken over by large companies who farm in a large-scale industrial way. The jury appreciated the capturing of the issue of a generational and technological shift and the discussion which is relevant in today’s Europe as well.