Marina wins out at the Ensors 2014

by Aurore Engelen

22/09/2014 - The fifth edition of the Ensor Awards for Flemish cinema has given a generous sprinkling of awards to Marina by Stijn Coninx and has confirmed the strong position of production outfit Eyeworks

Marina by Stijn Coninx

Marina [+see also:
trailer
interview: Cristiano Bortone
film profile] by Stijn Coninx received one last round of recognition on Saturday night as the Ostend Film Festival drew to a close, as the title obtained the approval of its peers during the ceremony for the Ensors, the Flemish film awards. The movie took home the three main awards, for Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. It also snagged Best Production Design and Best Costumes, as well as the Industry Award, which it could logically expect to receive, given that this prize is handed out to acknowledge a film’s box-office results. Indeed, Marina has enticed over 500,000 Flemish viewers to theatres since its release in November 2013. It should be noted that Stijn Coninx is not new to this game of coming up with box-office smashes, as he verged on – and then broke through – the one-million-viewer mark in the late 1980s and early 1990s with Daens (850,000 admissions in 1993), Hector (900,000 in 1987) and Koko Flanel (1,100,000 in 1990).

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Nevertheless, the film missed out on the Acting Awards, with Best Actor going to Koen De Bouw for his performance in The Verdict (Het Vonnis) [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. A true star of Flemish cinema, particularly in Loft [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the biggest Flemish box-office hit of all time, De Bouw was previously nominated in the same category in 2010 for Dossier K [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. The Verdict, which garnered seven nominations, eventually went home with three awards: Best Actor, as mentioned above, as well as Best Cinematography and Best Editing. As for the awards given out to females, Charlotte De Bruyne confirmed the trust placed in her last year (when she won the Ensor for Best Newcomer for Little Black Spiders [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), winning this year’s Ensor for Best Actress for Flying Home [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Dominique Deruddere. The film also earned Viviane De Muynck the Best Supporting Actress Award. Meanwhile, Johan Van Assche earned The Treatment (De Behandeling) [+see also:
trailer
film profile] its only prize (Best Supporting Actor). Lastly, the Ensor for Best Newcomer was bestowed upon Spencer Bogaert for Labyrintus.