Saturday 26 October saw the closing ceremony of the 64th Valladolid International Film Festival - Seminci. This year, the spotlight was on Öndög, a co-production between Mongolia and China written and directed by Wang Quan’an (Tuya’s Marriage) and the worthy winner of this year’s Golden Spike, the festival’s highest honour. The film also took the prize for Best Director of Photography, which went to Aymerick Pilarski. Shown in competition at the Berlinale and fêted by the jury at the recent Film Fest Ghent (read more here), it is set to be released in Spain in 2020 under the auspices of Caramel Films.

The jury for the official competition was formed by veteran Spanish filmmaker Josefina Molina (who was recently awarded Spain’s National Cinematography Prize), Spanish author and journalist Rosa Montero, Canadian director Philippe Lesage (who struck gold in Valladolid two years ago with Genesis), Indian director Dilip Mehta, Georgian filmmaker Keti Machavariani, French producer Thierry Forte and Cuban production manager Iván Giroud. The festival’s second prize, the Silver Spike, was presented to Rio de Janeiro’s Karim Aïnouz for The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão [+lire aussi :
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interview : Karim Aïnouz
fiche film] (Brazil/Germany). Aïnouz’s film also won the award for best actress, which was split between its two leads: Carol Duarte and Julia Stockler. It will be distributed in Spain by Vértigo Films, while international sales are in the capable hands of The Match Factory.

On the directing front, this year’s star was Iceland’s Rúnar Rúnarsson, whose film Echo [+lire aussi :
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interview : Rúnar Rúnarsson
fiche film], a co-production between Iceland, France and Switzerland (with sales handled by Jour2Fête) was selected to compete in Locarno in the summer.

The award for Best New Director went to Algerian filmmaker Mounia Meddour for her debut film Papicha [+lire aussi :
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interview : Mounia Meddour
fiche film], which also won the Audience Award. Papicha will be distributed in Spain by B-Team Pictures, while its sales have also been entrusted to Jour2Fête. It was a good night for Levan Gelbakhiani, who was awarded the prize for Best Actor for his star turn in And Then We Danced [+lire aussi :
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interview : Levan Akin
interview : Levan Gelbakhiani
fiche film], written and directed by Levan Akin (Spanish readers can look forward to the upcoming release of his previous film, Avalon), while the “Miguel Delibes” Award for Best Script went to the renowned duo Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for Belgian–French co-production Young Ahmed [+lire aussi :
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interview : Jean-Pierre et Luc Dardenne
fiche film], which they also directed. The Dardenne brothers’ film was also declared the winner of the inaugural “José Salcedo” Award for Best Editing, for the work of Marie-Hélène Dozo and Tristan Meunier. The film’s many admirers will have another chance to catch it in Spanish cinemas thanks to Wanda Visión; Parisian company Wild Bunch is handling international sales.

The full winners’ list for Seminci 2019 is as follows:

Official Section

Golden Spike for Best Feature-Length Film
Öndög — Wang Quan’an (China/Mongolia)

Silver Spike
The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão [+lire aussi :
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interview : Karim Aïnouz
fiche film] — Karim Aïnouz (Brazil/Germany)

Ribera del Duero Award for Best Director
Rúnar Rúnarsson — Echo [+lire aussi :
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interview : Rúnar Rúnarsson
fiche film] (Iceland/France/Switzerland)

Pilar Miró Prize for Best New Director
Mounia Meddour — Papicha [+lire aussi :
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interview : Mounia Meddour
fiche film] (France/Algeria/Belgium/Qatar)

Best Actress Award
Carol Duarte and Julia Stockler — The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão

Best Actor Award
Levan Gelbakhiani — And Then We Danced [+lire aussi :
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interview : Levan Akin
interview : Levan Gelbakhiani
fiche film] (Sweden/Georgia/France)

Miguel Delibes Award for Best Script
Jean-Pierre y Luc Dardenne — Young Ahmed [+lire aussi :
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interview : Jean-Pierre et Luc Dardenne
fiche film] (Belgium/France)

José Salcedo Award for Best Editing
Marie-Hélène Dozo and Tristan Meunier — Young Ahmed

Best Director of Photography Award
Aymerick Pilarski — Öndög

Audience Award
Papicha — Mounia Meddour

Youth Jury Award
The Farewell — Lulu Wang (USA)

Golden Spike Short
The Physics of Sorrow — Theodore Ushev (Canada)

Silver Spike Short
Movements — Dahee Jeong (South Korea)

EFA Short Film Nominee Prize
Carne — Camila Kater (Brazil/Spain)

Meeting Point Section

Meeting Point Best Feature
O fim do mundo [+lire aussi :
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interview : Basil Da Cunha
fiche film] — Basil Da Cunha (Switzerland)

Special Mention
A Son [+lire aussi :
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interview : Mehdi M. Barsaoui et Sami …
fiche film] — Mehdi M. Bersaoui (Tunisia/France/Lebanon/Qatar)

Meeting Point Audience Award
A Son — Mehdi M. Bersaoui

Meeting Point Young Jury Award
The Unknown Saint [+lire aussi :
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Best Foreign Short
Stay Awake, Be Ready — Pham Thien An (Vietnam/South Korea)

A Night of Spanish Shorts Prize
Summer Solstice — Carlota González-Adrio (Spain)

Time of History Section

Time of History First Prize
The Cave [+lire aussi :
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Time of History Second Prize
Collective [+lire aussi :
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Best Short Film
Frisson d’amour — Maxence Stamatiadis (France)

DOC Spain Section

Best Documentary Award
Freedom is a Big Word [+lire aussi :
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Special Mention
The Painting [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] — Andrés Sanz (Spain)

Other Awards

Award to a Short Film from Castile and Leon
Muedra — César Díaz Meléndez (Spain)

Dunia Ayaso Award
Belén Funes — A Thief’s Daughter [+lire aussi :
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interview : Belén Funes
fiche film] (Spain)

Rainbow Spike
And Then We Danced — Levan Akin
Special Mention
Let There Be Light [+lire aussi :
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interview : Marko Škop
interview : Milan Ondrík
fiche film] — Marko Skop (Slovakia/Czech Republic)

Green Spike
Honeyland [+lire aussi :
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interview : Ljubomir Stefanov, Tamara …
interview : Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir …
fiche film] — Ljubo Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska (North Macedonia)

Seminci Joven Award
My Extraordinary Summer with Tess [+lire aussi :
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