On Saturday evening, the fledgling Brussels International Film Festival (BRIFF) unveiled the winning titles of its second edition, and whilst the Grand Prix of the International Competition might have been clinched by Chinese director Wang Xiaoshuai’s So Long My Son, European cinema swiftly ran away with all the other prizes.

For starters, Richard Billingham’s Ray & Liz [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Richard Billingham
scheda film] bagged itself the International Jury Prize, as well as an award from the Belgium-based, French-language public broadcaster RTBF. The atypical format of the photographer’s first full-length movie, in which Billingham’s parents (who were also the focus of his photographic work and who are played here by Ella Smith and Justin Sallinger) are placed centre stage in a series of sketches, offers a stark yet tender portrayal of working class England in the 1980s.

In terms of Directors’ Week, the Grand Prix was awarded to the Lithuanian film Animus Animalis [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Aistė Žegulytė
scheda film] by Aiste Zegulyte, a surprising “wildlife” documentary, sub-headed A Story about People, Animals and Things. The Jury Award, meanwhile, was won jointly by Virgil Vernier’s Sophia Antipolis [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Virgil Vernier
scheda film], discovered last year in Locarno, and Rosanne Pel’s Light as Feathers [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Rosanne Pel
scheda film], unveiled in Toronto.

The BRIFF also organises a National Competition, bringing together majority Belgian films (this year, Cavale [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Virginie Gourmel and Century of Smoke [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Nicolas Graux) and international co-productions which successfully showcase Belgian talent in a range of significant roles. The competition crowned Juris Kursietis’ Oleg [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Juris Kursietis
scheda film] its champion, a movie mostly filmed in Brussels, co-produced in Belgium by Iota Production and which made a strong impression in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight back in May. The Audience Award for this same section was handed to Good Favour [+leggi anche:
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The full list of winners are as follows:

International Competition

Grand Prix
So Long My Son - Wang Xiashuai (China)

Jury Prize
Ray & Liz [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Richard Billingham
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Audience Award
Shooting the Mafia [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Kim Longinotto (Ireland)

National Competition

Grand Prix
Oleg [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Juris Kursietis
scheda film] - Juris Kursietis (Latvia/Belgium/Lithuania/France)

Audience Award
Good Favour [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Rebecca Daly (Ireland/ Belgium/Netherlands)

Directors’ Week – European Competition

Grand Prix
Animus Animalis [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Aistė Žegulytė
scheda film] - Aiste Zegulyte (Lithuania)

Jury Prize
Sophia Antipolis [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Virgil Vernier
scheda film] - Virgil Vernier (France)
Light as Feathers [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Rosanne Pel
scheda film] - Rosanne Pel (Netherlands)

Youth Jury Award
Koko-Di Koko-Da [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Johannes Nyholm
scheda film] - Johannes Nyholm (Sweden/ Denmark)

Broadcaster awards

RTBF Award
Ray & Liz - Richard Billingham

Be TV Award
It Must Be Heaven [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Elia Suleiman
scheda film] - Elia Suleiman (France/Germany/Canada/Turkey/Qatar)