Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, Berlin 2016 (Panorama)

Two outcast lovers on the run. Two hitmen on their trail. Many gunshots. And it all oddly leads to a powerful plea for humanity. With gorgeously photographed lonely landscapes and endearingly hopeful characters, this playfully apocalyptic western paints a desolate road toward salvation, but the journey is worth the wait and the work because, as one character beautifully states, "There is more to life than breathing." Bouli Lanners' LES PREMIERS, LES DERNIERS urges us to breathe and travel together.