Awards

Jury remarks: Princess is an outstanding, breathtaking film; its director Tali Shalom-Ezer a strong unique new voice in World Cinema. When we saw her film, we were totally absorbed by its immense power and at the same time its transparency and sensitiveness. Slowly, the spectator is drawn into the structure of sexual child abuse and is held so close to the protagonist, young Adar (played by a fantastic Shira Haas), that she finds herself imprisoned just like her and feels the strong desperation of repression and of having no way out. By placing a boy by her side, showing Adar's dissociation as a result of the abuse, where her mind invents a second self - or, as it is, also possible, establishing a first real adolescent love, Shalom-Ezer creates a different level of reality that intertwines with the girl's real situation and helps her to survive and finally free herself. Shalom-Ezer sticks to the story in an intense and direct way, eliminating anything that could be superfluous, and thus unfolding the mechanism of repression in a disturbing yet almost accidental way, where we would like to escape or wish desperately to put an end to the suffering, but have to go along with Adar all the way. All other characters are strong and unpredictable, extraordinary in their acting, creating a believable dark family life which shines yet bright and phony. The aesthetics are beautiful, creating a painful air of seduction on the surface and on a deeper level showing the incredible pain and torture, her vulnerability by exploring the girls face in close up. The film is like a slow explosion and makes you say, after leaving the cinema - and that is, what we were looking for - "Come on, let's change the world!" Congratulations, and may this prize encourage you to go on with sincere and profound filmmaking., .

"In a sort of psychoanalytic pas-de-deux, through an intriguing crossover of genres and an intense game between the two main actors, the film deals with a difficult theme with clarity and profoundness."