30/04/2012 - The Spanish film festival closed on Saturday, with awards to Els nens salvatges, Carmina o revienta, and Miel de naranjas

In the end, predictions that Els nens salvatges [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (lit. “The wild children” - photo) by Patricia Ferreira would be a favourite at Málaga’s film festival, even before it started, were right. On Saturday, April 28, the film won the 15th Málaga Spanish Film Festival’s Golden Biznaga for Best Film, as well as Best Screenplay (co-written by Virginia Yagüe), Best Supporting Actress (Aina Clotet), and Best Supporting Actor (Álex Monner).

As usual at the festival, there were a lot of awards: no less than fifteen (along with special mentions) for the thirteen films in competition. The jury was made up of director Gonzalo Suárez, producer Isona Passola, actors Raúl Arévalo, Inma Cuesta, and Goya Toledo, painter Enrique Brinkmann, and the Mexican director of the Guadalajara Film Festival, Iván Trujillo.

The festival’s other two main awards, the Special Jury Prize and Best Director, were handed out to two directors with very different professional paths and films. The Special Jury Prize went to newcomer Paco León for the fake documentary Carmina o revienta [+see also:
trailer
film profile], featuring his own mother, Carmina Barrios (who won Best Actress for the role), while Best Director was awarded to veteran filmmaker Imanol Uribe for his drama set in 1950s Spain Miel de naranjas [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (lit. “Orange honey” - for which Remedios Crespo also took away Best New Screenwriter).

Carmina or revienta won the Audience Award, while the young jury chose Memories of my Melancholy Whores [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Henning Carlsen. As for the critics, they were swayed by A puerta fría (lit. “Cold call”) by Xavi Puebla, for which the notable Antonio Dechent won Best Actor.

The rest of the awards were in more technical categories. Best Original Soundtrack went to Aziza Brahim for Wilaya [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Best Cinematography went to Sergi Gallardo for The Sex of Angels [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Villaverde
film profile]) and Best Editing went to Koldo Idigoras for Winning Streak [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

(Translated from Spanish)