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CANNES 2018 Critics’ Week / Awards

Diamantino comes out on top in the Cannes Critics’ Week

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- CANNES 2018: The film by Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt has emerged triumphant in the Critics’ Week, while the Rising Star Award has gone to French actor Félix Maritaud for his turn in Sauvage

Diamantino comes out on top in the Cannes Critics’ Week
Portuguese director Gabriel Abrantes (left) and US director Daniel Schmidt (right) with their Critics’ Week Grand Prize for Diamantino (© Pierre Caudevelle / Critics’ Week)

The jury of the 57th Critics’ Week at the 71st Cannes Film Festival, chaired by Norwegian director Joachim Trier, has handed the 2018 Grand Prize to Diamantino [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gabriel Abrantes, Daniel Sc…
film profile
]
, co-directed by Portugal’s Gabriel Abrantes and the USA’s Daniel Schmidt. This off-the-wall and extremely inventive hybrid feature debut, a kind of homage to innocence in a world of loons and football, was produced by Maria & Mayer (Portugal), Les Films du Bélier (France) and Syndrome Films (Brazil). The international sales are handled by Charades.

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Handed out for the first time to an actor or actress, the Rising Star Award went to French thesp Félix Maritaud for his (admittedly outstanding) turn in Sauvage [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Camille Vidal-Naquet
film profile
]
 by his fellow countryman Camille Vidal-Naquet, a feature debut that delves into the everyday life of male prostitution, and a shocking film where brutality, freedom and the search for love collide. Sauvage was produced by Les Films de la Croisade and La Voie Lactée, and is being sold overseas by Pyramide International.

Of note among the awards given out by the Critics’ Week partners, the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution singled out Sir [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by India’s Rohena Gera (a feature debut co-produced by France via Ciné-Sud Promotion and sold abroad by mk2 Films), while the SACD Award was bestowed upon Iceland’s Benedikt Erlingsson and Ólafur Egill Egilsson, the screenwriters of Woman at War [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benedikt Erlingsson
interview: Benedikt Erlingsson
film profile
]
 (produced by Slot Machine and Gulldrengurinn in co-production with Solar Media EntertainmentKöggull SF and Vintage Picture, and sold abroad by Beta Cinema).

Lastly, in terms of the short films, the Discovery Prize crowned Hector Malot: The Last Day of the Year by Greece’s Jacqueline Lentzou, while the Canal+ Award was claimed by the Algerian-French co-production A Wedding Day by Elias Belkeddar.

Here is the full list of winners:

Nespresso Grand Prize
Diamantino [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gabriel Abrantes, Daniel Sc…
film profile
]
 - Gabriel Abrantes, Daniel Schmidt (Portugal/France/Brazil)

Leica Cine Discovery Prize for Short Film 
Hector Malot: The Last Day of the Year - Jacqueline Lentzou (Greece)

Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award 
Félix Maritaud - Sauvage [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Camille Vidal-Naquet
film profile
]
 (France)

Gan Foundation Award for Distribution 
Sir [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 - Rohena Gera (India/France)

SACD Award
Benedikt Erlingsson, Ólafur Egill Egilsson - Woman at War [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benedikt Erlingsson
interview: Benedikt Erlingsson
film profile
]
 (Iceland/France/Ukraine)

Canal+ Award for Short Film 
A Wedding Day - Elias Belkeddar (Algeria/France)

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(Translated from French)

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