The IFFR's three Tiger Awards for Short Films 2009 were handed out to A Necessary Music by Beatrice Gibson from the UK; Despair by Galina Myznikova & Sergey Provorov from Russia; and Bernadette by Duncan Campbell from the UK. Each of the three Tiger Awards for Short Film comes with a prize of €3,000.
The jury for the awards was comprised of filmmaker Tan Chui Mui, programmer/buyer Maria Pallier from Spanish broadcaster TVE and UK journalist, curator and artist George Clark. There were 27 films in the competition, each up to 60 minutes in length.
Of the winners, the jury noted that A Necessary Music was "a unique exploration of community memory and social history." Despair "achieves a dreamlike quality from minimal means", while Bernadette's "remarkable rigour brilliantly accommodates its questioning of documentary form."
On Sunday evening, the NPS New Arrivals Award was presented to the short film Seeking You by Jean-Julien Pous from France, with a Special Mention for Jansoree – the Unbearable Heaviness of Mama's Nagging by Jung Yol Choi from South Korea.
New Arrivals is a new online initiative from IFFR and Dutch broadcaster NPS. International filmmakers submitted their shorts, and seven monthly winners competed for the top prize of €1,000. They jury called Seeking You an "impressive cinematic love letter to Hong Kong."