“Mellow Mud” by Renārs Vimba wins the Grand Prix of CinEast 2016

At the Awards Ceremony of the 9th edition of CinEast (Central and Eastern European Film Festival in Luxembourg, 6-23 October, www.cineast.lu), held at the Cinémathèque of Luxembourg on Friday 21 October, the International Jury awarded the Grand Prix to the film “Mellow Mud” by the Latvian director Renārs Vimba.

This is so far Latvia’s greatest achievement at the festival. In the 2016 CinEast edition Latvia was represented by two other films – Laila Pakalniņa’s “Dawn” and Dāvis Sīmanis’ “Exiled”.

Serbian actress and director Mirjana Karanović, the president of the International Jury, commented the jury’s decision regarding the Grand Prix winner “Mellow Mud” as follows: “a well-structured and developed story, both sensual and subtle, about a young woman coming into her own in a country also coming into its own. Though it touches on dark themes such as corruption, forbidden relationships, generational conflict and family responsibilities, the film has a lightness of touch throughout. Through his use of the camera and a reliance on visuals over dialogue, the director shows a surprising maturity and lead actress Elina Vaska is an exciting discovery.”

The 9th CinEast film festival, with 62 features and around 40 short films from 18 post-communist countries, runs until Sunday 23 October.