29/03/2016 - Alexis Alexiou’s Tribeca-screened neo-noir has won in nine top categories, while Cannes-awarded The Lobster picked up the inaugural Best Foreign Film Award

Director Alexis Alexiou receiving one of his awards (© Studio Kominis)

Alexis Alexiou’s Tribeca-screened neo-noir Wednesday 04:45 [+see also:
trailer
film profile] was crowned Best Film of the Year, cashing in on nine of its 13 nominations at the Hellenic Film Academy (HFA) Awards, handed out on Monday evening. The Greek-German-Israeli co-production, which was eight years in the making, came out of the seventh annual Iris Awards with prizes for Best Directing, Best Editing, Best Music, Best Sound, Best Set Design and Best Cinematography, while its leading man, Stelios Mainas, also picked up the Best Actor Award. 

Handed out for the first time, the Best Foreign Film Award was bestowed upon Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Yorgos Lanthimos
film profile], which, though eligible in the local categories as well, had opted out of the main competition. The Cannes-awarded film topped the shortlist handpicked by a committee of the Academy’s film-critic branch, and the trophy was presented by newly appointed Thessaloniki Film Festival director Elise Jalladeau in her own first official appearance as the head of the country’s top film event (read the news).

The Lobster co-writer Efthymis Filippou, who was on hand to receive the Best Foreign Film Award, also went on stage to pick up the Best Screenplay Award for his work on Athina Rachel Tsangari’s London winner Chevalier [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. Yorgos Zois’ Venice-screened Interruption [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Daphné Patakia
interview: Yorgos Zois
film profile] and Evangelia Kranioti’s Berlinale-featured Exotica, Erotica, Etc [+see also:
film review
film profile] earned them both the Best New Director Award ex aequo, with Kranioti going on to also win Best Documentary. 

Alexiou’s domination of the bulk of the Iris Awards was interspersed by local crowd-pleaser Ouzeri Tsitsanis, which picked up Best Make-up, Best Costumes and Best Supporting Actress for Vassiliki Troufakou, while Christoforos Papakaliatis’ mega blockbuster Another World fell victim to the evening’s only upset, when favourite Maria Kavogianni lost out on the Best Actress Award to little-seen Smac’s Vangelio Andreadaki. However, the former film held on to the Best Supporting Actor Award, which went to the late Minas Hatzisavvas, making for the evening’s most touching moment when the actor’s companion Kostas Falelakis came on stage to dedicate the award to Vanessa Redgrave, who was present to receive the HFA’s annual Lifetime Achievement Award.

Here is the full list of winners:

Best Feature
Wednesday 04:45 [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Alexis Alexiou

Best Director 
Alexis Alexiou – Wednesday 04:45

Best Foreign Film
The Lobster [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Yorgos Lanthimos
film profile] – Yorgos Lanthimos

Best New Director
Yorgos Zois – Interruption [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Daphné Patakia
interview: Yorgos Zois
film profile]
Evangelia Kranioti – Exotica, Erotica, Etc [+see also:
film review
film profile] (ex aequo) 

Best Documentary
Exotica, Erotica, Etc – Evangelia Kranioti 

Best Short Film
Fig – Nikolas Kolovos

Best Screenplay
Efthimis Filippou, Athena Rachel Tsangari – Chevalier [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]

Best Actor
Stelios Mainas – Wednesday 04:45

Best Actress
Vangelio Andreadaki – Smac

Best Supporting Actor
Minas Hatzisavvas – Another World

Best Supporting Actress
Vasiliki Troufakou – Ouzeri Tsitsanis

Best Cinematography
Christos Karamanis – Wednesday 04:45

Best Editing
Lampis Charalampidis – Wednesday 04:45

Best Original Music
Yiannis Veslemes (Felizol) – Wednesday 04:45 

Best Set Design
Spyros Laskaris – Wednesday 04:45

Best Costume Design
Anna Macherianaki – Ouzeri Tsitsanis

Best Sound
Aris Athanasopoulos, Avi Mizrahi, Gil Toren – Wednesday 04:45

Best Make-up
Nabil Salame – Ouzeri Tsitsanis 

Best Visual Effects and Cinematic Innovation
Ippokratis Chalas, Mihalis Samiotis, Alaxouzi Brothers, Dani Cohen – Wednesday 04:45 

Lifetime Achievement Award
Vanessa Redgrave