The D’A Film Festival brought its ninth edition to a close in Barcelona yesterday, one day after its awards were handed out. Standing out among the prize-winners thanks to its twofold victory was the transatlantic production A Family Submerged [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] (Argentina/Brazil/Germany/Norway), the feature-length directorial debut by actress María Alché (who performed in Lucrecia Martel’s The Holy Child), starring the magnificent Mercedes Morán (El Ángel [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film]). The film scooped the main trophy at the gathering, the Talents Award for Best Film, as well as the Critics’ Award. A Family Submerged, which recently went on general release in Spain, after taking part in the Locarno, Göteborg and San Sebastián Film Festivals (in addition to picking up the Best Film Award in the Horizontes Latinos section of the latter), is an intimate reflection on loss.

(L'article continue plus bas - Inf. publicitaire)

The jury was made up of Andrea Stavenhagen (programmer), Vanesa Fernández Guerra (ZINEBI - Bilbao International Documentary and Short Film Festival) and Sergi Pérez (the director of The Long Way Home [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Sergi Pérez
fiche film] and a film teacher at the ESCAC), who singled out the winning film “for turning mourning into a personal process of transition within a chaotic and luminous family environment, and for managing to adopt the perspective of a woman interrupted, which is in equal parts original and endearing”.

The Un Impulso Colectivo (lit. “A Collective Push”) jury bestowed the OpenECAM Award, comprising the loan of facilities and technical equipment at the ECAM (Film and Audiovisual School of the Community of Madrid), to the Swedish-German-Norwegian production Hamada [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Eloy Domínguez Serén
fiche film], helmed by Spaniard Eloy Domíguez Serén, for “its elegant and dazzling mise-en-scène, which questions the utopia of emigration”. In addition, it granted a Special Mention to Young & Beautiful [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] by Marina Lameiro (Spain), for “the inventiveness with which it keeps its finger on the pulse of an entire generation through its emphasis on the freedom to make life choices, honesty and a sense of humour”. The Un Impulso Colectivo jury was made up of María Rubín (head of Spanish Film at Movistar Plus+), Serrana Torres (producer) and Gemma Vidal (head of The Screen/ECAM’s La Incubadora programme for feature development).

The Movistar Plus+ Award (encompassing the purchase of broadcasting rights by this particular TV channel, valued at €12,000, for one of the films in the Un Impulso Colectivo section) was handed to the experimental title Letters to Paul Morrissey [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Armand Rovira
fiche film] by Armand Rovira (aided by Saida Benzal, who also acts in the film), which previously passed through the most recent Seville Film Festival, as well as Novos Cinemas in Pontevedra and Tallinn Black Nights. In the jury’s view, the movie is “a hypnotic journey to the very depths of a group of tormented protagonists, which enraptures from the get-go thanks to the rigour and beauty of what it has to offer”.

Here is the complete list of winners:

Talents Award
A Family Submerged [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] - María Alché (Argentina/Brazil/Germany/Norway)

OpenECAM Award
Hamada [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Eloy Domínguez Serén
fiche film] - Eloy Domínguez Serén (Sweden/Germany/Norway)
Special Mention
Young & Beautiful [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] - Marina Lameiro (Spain)

Movistar Plus+ Award
Letters to Paul Morrissey [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Armand Rovira
fiche film] - Armand Rovira (Spain)

Critics’ Award 
A Family Submerged - María Alché
Special Mention
Sophia Antipolis [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Virgil Vernier
fiche film] - Virgil Vernier (France)

Audience Award for Best Short Film
Watermelon Juice - Irene Mora (Spain)

Sala Jove D’A Audience Award
Ruben Brandt, Collector [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] - Milorad Krstic (Hungary)