It´s 10.33pm, Saturday night, and I'm using the computer on the ground floor of Linz's OK Centrum. About an hour ago I was on stage upstairs, announcing - on behalf of my fellow jurors and myself - that the winning film this year is Die Unerzogenen (The Unpolished), the fine debut by Pia Marais. The post-ceremony party is well underway, but I am being the dutiful "blogger" and recording my innermost thoughts, fears, desires, and so on. Oh, and in the spirit of my earlier entry, I should mention that this entry is dedicated to the memory of Msistlav Rostropovich, who passed away earlier in the week (a pal of Yeltsin, apparently : fans of The Parallax View may draw their own conclusions...) Back to business: I can state on record that, out of all the festivals where I´ve done jury service (including Rotterdam last year), Crossing Europe 2007´s was the most competitive and of the highest overall standard.
Unprecedentedly for me, there were as many as five movies which I would have been happy to see winning our prize, Pia Marais`s film very much among 'em. I won`t say any more about our deliberations, except that they were enjoyable, funny, not too protracted, and toasted by a glass or two of Bulgarian liquour, as supplied by our Thracian member Mira Staleva. It did turn out to be a very late night, indeed I managed to see the sun rise over the Donau as I sipped a final Krusovece outside the riverside Stadtwerkstatt bar, debating key cultural issues of the day with some youthful Linzers. I even managed to persuade them to come and see some movies at the festival. Juror, publicist, spokesperson... Surely I'll be invited back for Linz 2008??!!