Brazilian Photographer and Filmmaker Louise Botkay Wins Second Oberhausen e-flux Prize

The e-flux Prize at the 62nd International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, which was awarded the second year running, went to the film Mains Propres (Washed Hands) by Brazilian director Louise Botkay. The e-flux Prize comes with 3,000 EUR in prize money and is awarded in the Festival’s International Competition.

The Prize distinguishes “an exceptional film and video work which reshapes the poetic and electric potential of moving images in the age of planetary circulation of information” and is awarded along with 3,000 EUR by the International Jury of the Festival. “A formally simple but complex film about filming and being filmed, which has a highly disturbing effect. The power of this work is built up through one of the more essential tools of cinema: framing,” the Jury wrote in their statement.

The award winner:
Louise Botkay, Mains Propres (Washed Hands), 2015. Film, 8:33 minutes, DCP, colour.

Synopsis:
In the so-called post-colonial era, the poor countries continue to be subjected to the same group of countries that colonized them. In Europe everybody pretends not to know or remember. The very same international cooperation that “helps” the poorest countries leaves in the air a scent of infinite dependency.

The artist:
Director Louise Botkay is a photographer and filmmaker who uses Super 8, 16 and 35 mm film, video and cell phone footage, all of which she develops herself by hand. Her film Mammah was exhibited in galleries and museums across the world. She lives in Rio de Janeiro and France. In 2015, Oberhausen presented her film Vertières I II III in competition.