"Wet Sand be" de Elene Naveriani, produit par Maximage
© Elene Naveriani - Maximage
À la recherche d'Aline, de Rokhaya Marieme Balde
© HEAD – Genève, Rokhaya Marieme Balde

"Wet Sand" by Elene Naveriani wins the Solothurn Prize 2022!

January 2022

Graduates of the HEAD Cinema department honored at the 57th Solothurn Film Festival!

Elene Naveriani, a graduate of the Bachelor Cinema program at HEAD, has won the "Solothurn Prize" with her second feature film "Wet Sand be", produced by Maximage. This is the grand prize of the festival which rewards the best film in competition and is endowed with 60'000 CHF.

About Wet Sand by Elene Naveriani « (…) The jury is impressed by the talent with which the director fuses sound, image and music, so that time expands to its extreme limits and transports us into a state of vibration.»

The Solothurn Film Festival is the occasion to discover every year the best of Swiss cinema and to unveil the names of the nominees for the Swiss Film Prize. During one week, the vitality of the young talents recently graduated from the Film Department was revealed in all the main categories of the Nominations for the Swiss Film Prize 2022.

HEAD is particularly proud to announce that Rokhaya Marieme Balde's Bachelor diploma film A la Recherche d'Aline has been nominated in the Best Diploma Film category at the Swiss Film Prize 2022 Nominations Night.

Benjamin Goubet, who will graduate with a Bachelor's degree in 2021, won the "Upcoming Lab Prize" of CHF 5,000 for his film project Diva. His diploma film Anabase was selected at the GIFF and at the Wintherthur Festival.

Best fiction film CHF 25'000 per nomination
Azor by Andreas Fontana (Alina film Sàrl, Eugenia Mumenthaler, David Epiney) graduate Master ECAL/HEAD
Wet Sand by Elene Naveriani (maximage GmbH, Cornelia Seitler, Brigitte Hofer), graduate Bachelor HEAD

Best short film 10'000 CHF per nomination
Cavales by Juliette Riccaboni (Adok Films Sàrl, José Michel Buhler), Bachelor HEAD graduateBest animated film 10'000 CHF per nomination
Dans la nature by Marcel Barelli (Nadasdy Film Sàrl, Nicolas Burlet), Bachelor HEAD graduate

Best screenplay 5'000 CHF per nomination
Azor by Andreas Fontana, Master ECAL/HEAD graduate

Best photography 5'000 CHF per nomination
Azor, Gabriel Sandru, directed by Andreas Fontana, Master ECAL/HEAD graduate

Best Sound 5'000 CHF per nomination
Azor, Xavier Lavorel, Etienne Curchod, directed by Andreas Fontana, Master ECAL/HEAD graduate

Best graduation film 5'000 CHF per nomination
À la recherche d'Aline, by Rokhaya Marieme Balde, Bachelor HEAD graduate


The Swiss Film Awards 2022 will take place on March 25 in Zurich. Let's keep our fingers crossed for our young talents!

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