12/11/2020 - The projects The Bride, Mamacruz and Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes have taken home the prizes from the platform’s second edition

Director Sérgio Tréfaut accepting his award during the online event, joined by Olimpia Pont

After unspooling online in order to comply with the health-and-safety restrictions that the 17^th Seville European Film Festival has had to grapple with, the second European Coproductions meeting has now come to a close. The winners of this edition, dedicated to co-productions between Spain and Portugal, were announced on Wednesday during a virtual rendezvous, moderated by the festival’s head of industry, Olimpia Pont Cháfer.

The top prize, the Seville Festival Award, which comes with €5,000 in cash, went to the new outing by Portugal’s Sérgio Tréfaut, best known for titles such as his documentary Treblinka [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and his fiction feature Rage [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. In The Bride [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which is a Faux production, in co-production with Les Films d’Ici and Mitosfilm, and was chosen by the jury “because this is a story that has to be told, and we want it to become a reality”, the Portuguese helmer delves into the true story of a young woman from a Christian family who runs away to marry an ISIS fighter and becomes a “jihadi bride”, only to end up in prison and embroiled in a trial once this life, which she abandoned her previous existence to pursue, has come to an end. Tréfaut began to take an interest in the world of Islam in his documentary A cidade dos mortos (2010), and has already been preparing for his new project by learning Arabic and making various trips to Iraq.

The Arte Sonora Estudios Award, worth €5,000 in post-production services (editing and sound mixing), was bestowed upon Mamacruz [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Venezuela’s Patricia Ortega, which, according to the jury, is “a bold comedy that will break moulds and shatter stereotypes”. The movie, produced by Olmo Figueredo for La Claqueta, with La Cruda Realidad and Spi on board as co-producers, follows a grandmother who discovers how to use the internet when her daughter emigrates. She then has to decide between carrying on with her upstanding, religious and “respectable” life, or giving in to the temptations of the worldwide web.

Last of all, the RTP Award, endowed with €10,000 to cover the acquisition of broadcasting rights on Portuguese TV channel RTP1, went to Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes by Spaniard Gabriel Azorín. The project, staged by Carlos Pardo for Dvein Films, establishes a parallel in time between a group of Portuguese boys who are going to spend the afternoon at some hot springs on the border between modern-day Ourense and Portugal, and the Roman soldiers who originally built them.

The awards were handed out by industry professionals José Fragoso, representing RTP; Sara Santaella, representing Arte Sonora Estudios; and Marta Velasco, of Áralan Films.

The forum also hosted a round-table entitled “So Close, So Far”, about the potential co-production opportunities between both countries on the Iberian peninsula, which saw the participation of Elisa Rodríguez Ortiz, from Spain’s ICAA; Maria Mineiro, from Portugal’s ICA; and producers Luís Urbano (O Som e a Fúria) and Olmo Figueredo. It was moderated by Cineuropa journalist Alfonso Rivera.

Here is the full list of award winners:

Seville Festival Award
The Bride [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] – Sérgio Tréfaut (Portugal)

Arte Sonora Estudios Award
Mamacruz [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Patricia Ortega (Spain)

RTP Award
Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes – Gabriel Azorín (Spain)

(Translated from Spanish)