26/04/2021 - Fernanda Valadez and Zoé Wittock have picked up the other major international accolades at the major event of the island

The team of the Cyprus Film Days at the closing ceremony

The 19^th edition of the Cyprus Film Days International Festival wrapped on 24 April with its awards ceremony, which was held at the Rialto Theatre in Limassol. The most important event of fiction film on the island, which ran from 16-24 April in both Limassol and Nicosia, presented Sole [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carlo Sironi
film profile] by Carlo Sironi with the Glocal Images Best Film Award, which is accompanied by a €6,000 prize.

The international jury, presided over by the artistic director of the Mostra de València-Cinema del Mediterrani Film Festival, Eduardo Guillot, and comprising Bulgarian actress Irmena Chichikova, Greek writer-director Minos Nikolakakis, Cypriot actress Kika Georgiou and Cypriot film composer George Kallis, have picked Sironi’s film for “his sensitivity to develop an impossible love story between two lost souls, through an engaging and laconic visual narrative that enchants and captures the viewer.”

The Special Jury Award, which is accompanied by the amount of €3,000, was handed to  the Mexican drama Identifying Features [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Fernanda Valadez, “for a brave film that poetically, yet realistically, portrays the desperate mother’s search for her son, confronted with a devastating truth.”

The Best Director Award was given to Belgian helmer Zoé Wittock for her film Jumbo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Zoé Wittock
film profile], as she “flawlessly used absurd genre elements, waving them into a most humane psychological coming-of-age story”; the trophy is accompanied by €1,000, as well as by post-production services, worth of €4,000, offered by Authorwave. Furthermore, the jury has picked The Last Bath [+see also:
film review
film profile] by David Bonneville for an Honorary Distinction for “beautifully exploring intimacy, desire and faith, and for pushing human boundaries into unexpected paths”.

Finally, the Audience Award went to the Cypriot film Senior Citizen, directed by Marinos Kartikkis.

Here is the complete list of winners at the 19^th Cyprus Film Days:

Best Film
Sole [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carlo Sironi
film profile] – Carlo Sironi (Italy/Poland)

Special Jury Award
Identifying Features [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Fernanda Valadez (Mexico/Spain)

Best Director
Zoé Wittock – Jumbo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Zoé Wittock
film profile] (France/Luxembourg/Belgium)

Honorary Distinction
The Last Bath [+see also:
film review
film profile] – David Bonneville (Portugal/France)

Audience Award
Senior Citizen – Marinos Kartikkis (Cyprus/Greece)