14/11/2006

With its events taking place three different facilities in Brussels, FestCEAL’s top honours were presented in the Flagey Centre last Sunday evening, just before kicking off the screenings in the Vendôme Cinema, through November 21, and the opening of a new edition of the ENIFILM market, which runs until November 17 in the Cervantes Institute.

The winner of the Spanish Film Section was Miguel Albadalejo's My Quick Way Out (see article) while the award for distribution support went to Jose Luis Cuerda’s family drama The Education of Fairies, a film that visibly divided the audience when it was shown on the festival's opening night.

The Audience Award went to 1 Franco, 14 Pesetas by Carlos Iglesias, who delved into his own childhood memories to write and direct a film about Spanish immigrants in Switzerland.

In the Latin American section the winners were Rodrigo Ortúzar's Chilean title Mujeres Infieles and Alberti Lecchi's Argentinean film Una estrella y dos cafés (ex-aequo Best Latin American film), while Emilio Maillé's Rosario Tijeras (Colombia/Mexico) received the distribution support award.

The second part of the festival's programme, which will continue until November 21, features, among others, Spanish short films and documentaries, and the avant-premiere of Carlos Saura's Iberia.

Simultaneously, the ENIFILM market will bring members of approximately 60 companies from Europe and Latin America to the headquarters of the Cervantes Institute, to participate in the market activities, which include conferences, the usual "one-on-one" meetings and a brand new Pitch Market.

Four scripts have been selected to take part in the latter, one of them by famous Flemish choreographer turned scriptwriter Wim Vandekeybus. The market is supported by the Al-Invest Programme of the European Commission.