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MONTREAL 2016 Awards

Croatian film The Constitution wins at Montreal

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- The Montreal World Film Festival bestows the Grand Prize of the Americas upon Rajko Grlic’s film, while other European titles also come home with awards

Croatian film The Constitution wins at Montreal
The Constitution by Rajko Grlic

The 40th edition of the Montreal World Film Festival, which celebrated cinema from every country around the globe with several world premieres from 25 August to 5 September (read more), has come to a close with the handing-out of its awards. 

The World Competition – whose jurors were Pierre-Henri Deleau, Claude Gagnon, Goran Markovic, Donald Ranvaud, and Eliseo Subiela – saw the triumph of Croatian film The Constitution [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rajko Grlić
film profile
]
, directed by Rajko Grlic, a movie about four very different people who live in the same building and whose lives become entangled in ways that profoundly challenge a series of social, political and ethnic issues still unresolved in the former Yugoslav territories. The Special Grand Prix of the Jury went to Soleen Yusef’s German-Kurdish title House Without Roof, while Best Director went to Belgium’s Nic Balthazar for Everybody Happy [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and Best Actress went to Hannah Hoekstra for the Dutch film The Fury [+see also:
trailer
interview: Hannah Hoekstra
film profile
]
by André van Duren. Turkish film Swaying Waterlily by Seren Yüce snagged the Best Screenplay Award.

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In the meantime, in the World First Films Competition, the awards, given out by a jury comprising Maurie Alioff, Mariangiola Castrovilli and Pierre-Henri Deleau, celebrated European films such as the German-Kosovar title Echo by Dren Zherka and the Italian film Two Euros per Hour [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Andrea D’Ambrosio.

Here is the list of the award winners:

World Competition

Grand Prize of the Americas (Best Film)
The Constitution [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rajko Grlić
film profile
]
- Rajko Grlic (Croatia/Czech Republic/Slovenia/Macedonia)

Special Grand Prix of the Jury
House Without Roof - Soleen Yusef (Germany/Kurdistan)

Best Director
Nic Balthazar - Everybody Happy [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(Belgium/Netherlands)

Best Actress
Hannah Hoekstra – The Fury [+see also:
trailer
interview: Hannah Hoekstra
film profile
]
(Netherlands)

Best Actor
Willem Dafoe – My Hindi Friend (Brazil)

Best Screenplay
Swaying Waterlily - Seren Yüce (Turkey)

Best Artistic Contribution
Tatara Samurai - Yoshinari Nishikori (Japan)

Innovation Award
Embrasse-moi comme tu m’aimes - André Forcier (Canada)

World First Films Competition

Golden Zenith for the Best First Fiction Feature Film
A Father’s Will - Bakyt Mukul, Dastan Zhapar Uulu (Kyrgyzstan)

Silver Zenith for the First Fiction Feature Film
Echo - Dren Zherka (Germany/Kosovo)

Bronze Zenith for the First Fiction Feature Film (ex-aequo)
If You Were Here - Yu Lan (China)
Two Euros per Hour [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
- Andrea D’Ambrosio (Italy)

World Competition Documentaries

Best Documentary Award (ex-aequo)
Ken San - Yuichi Hibi (Japan)
Albert and Alma in 16 Strings - Philippe Frenette-Roy (Canada)

Short Films

1st prize
The Session - Morgane Becerril (USA/France/Italy)

Jury Award
Silence - Dejan Mrkic (Australia)

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