Short Film News (SFN) - Cinefondation awards announced yesterday, 23 June as the first official selection prizes of 61st Cannes film festival.

Himnon (Anthem) by Elad Keidan from Sam Spiegel Film and TV School won Cinefondation's 1st prize from the Jury presided by Taiwanese director, Hou Hsiao Hsien.

The 2nd prize went to Claire Burger's Forbach, while Stop by Park Jae-ok and Ketsomerkitsijat (Roadmarkers) by Juho Kuosmanen won the joint 3rd prize.

Cinefondation was launched in 1998 as one of the Cannes' official programs to promote the discovery of the new generation of filmmakers. During the years, a selection of short and mid-length films from film schools has been presented in the program.

This year, 17 films from Asia, Europe, North America and South America have been selected from the 1200 submitted works.