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ARRAS 2021 Awards

Becoming Mona triumphs in Arras

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- Sabine Lubbe Bakker and Niels van Koevorden won the Golden Atlas, while The Fam by Fred Baillif was handed the Silver Atlas and Leave No Traces by Jan P Matuszynski was given the Audience Award

Becoming Mona triumphs in Arras
Directing duo Niels van Koevorden-Sabine Lubbe Bakker with their Golden Atlas for Becoming Mona (© Aurélie Lamachère/Arras Film Festival)

Presided by French filmmaker Vincent Garenq, the jury of the competition at the 22nd Arras Film Festival (which was a great popular success and notably touched a younger audience than before) handed the Golden Atlas - Grand Jury Prize to Becoming Mona [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sabine Lubbe Bakker and Nie…
film profile
]
by Sabine Lubbe Bakker and Niels van Koevorden. This first fiction feature from the Dutch duo who was previously noticed with their documentary Ne me quitte pas [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(2014), this film, adapted from the Belgian bestseller by Griet Op de Beeck, paints the portrait in three parts, from childhood to adulthood, of a quiet and submissive woman. Mona is a background heroine, condemned by her own kindness and worry for others to live in the shadows of those she loves. Neither her family nor her partner, all of them too self-centred, ever make a single effort to admit and to understand that she is indispensable to them. Will Mona’s patience reach its limits? Becoming Mona won the Best Director award at the Dutch Golden Calves awards and the Best Co-Production Ensor award at the Flemish ceremony. The film will be released in Belgium on 17 November by September Film.

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The Silver Atlas for Best Director was given to Swiss filmmaker Fred Baillif for The Fam [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fred Baillif
film profile
]
, winner of the Generation 14Plus Grand Prix at the latest Berlinale and awarded recently in Namur and Zurich. The feature film will be distributed in France by L’Atelier Distribution.

It is worth noting that the jury of the European Competition also gave a Special Mention to The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See Titanic [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Teemu Nikki and Jani Pösö
interview: Teemu Nikki, Jani Pösö an…
film profile
]
from Finnish director Teemu Nikki, which won the Orizzonti Extra Audience Award in Venice, and also came out on top for the Young Gaze jury.

Finally, a beautiful double win with the Audience Award and the Critics’ Award for Leave No Traces [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jan P Matuszyński
film profile
]
by Polish director Jan P Matuszynski. Discovered in competition in Venice, this film will be released in France via Memento Distribution.

Here is the full list of winners:

Golden Atlas - Grand Jury Prize
Becoming Mona [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sabine Lubbe Bakker and Nie…
film profile
]
- Sabine Lubbe Bakker and Niels van Koevorden (Netherlands/Belgium)

Silver Atlas - Best Director
The Fam [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fred Baillif
film profile
]
- Fred Baillif (Switzerland)

Special Mention of the Jury
The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See Titanic [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Teemu Nikki and Jani Pösö
interview: Teemu Nikki, Jani Pösö an…
film profile
]
- Teemu Nikki (Finland)

SFCC Critics’ Award
Leave No Traces [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jan P Matuszyński
film profile
]
- Jan P Matuszynski (Poland/France/Czech Republic)

Audience Award
Leave No Traces - Jan P Matuszynski

Young Gaze Award - Hauts-de-France Region
The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See Titanic - Teemu Nikki 

Audience Award European Competition 2020
I Never Cry [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Piotr Domalewski
film profile
]
- Piotr Domalewski (Poland/Ireland)

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(Translated from French)

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