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.

(L'articolo continua qui sotto - Inf. pubblicitaria)

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 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Karim Aïnouz
scheda 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 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Rúnar Rúnarsson
scheda 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 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mounia Meddour
scheda 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 [+leggi anche:
recensione
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intervista: Levan Akin
intervista: Levan Gelbakhiani
scheda 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 [+leggi anche:
recensione
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intervista: Jean-Pierre e Luc Dardenne
scheda 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 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Karim Aïnouz
scheda film] — Karim Aïnouz (Brazil/Germany)

Ribera del Duero Award for Best Director
Rúnar Rúnarsson — Echo [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Rúnar Rúnarsson
scheda film] (Iceland/France/Switzerland)

Pilar Miró Prize for Best New Director
Mounia Meddour — Papicha [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mounia Meddour
scheda 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 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Levan Akin
intervista: Levan Gelbakhiani
scheda film] (Sweden/Georgia/France)

Miguel Delibes Award for Best Script
Jean-Pierre y Luc Dardenne — Young Ahmed [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Jean-Pierre e Luc Dardenne
scheda 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 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Basil Da Cunha
scheda film] — Basil Da Cunha (Switzerland)

Special Mention
A Son [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mehdi M. Barsaoui e Sami B…
scheda 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 [+leggi anche:
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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 [+leggi anche:
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Time of History Second Prize
Collective [+leggi anche:
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Best Short Film
Frisson d’amour — Maxence Stamatiadis (France)

DOC Spain Section

Best Documentary Award
Freedom is a Big Word [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film] — Guillermo Rocamora (Uruguay/Brazil/Spain)

Special Mention
The Painting [+leggi anche:
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scheda 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 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Belén Funes
scheda film] (Spain)

Rainbow Spike
And Then We Danced — Levan Akin
Special Mention
Let There Be Light [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Marko Škop
intervista: Milan Ondrík
scheda film] — Marko Skop (Slovakia/Czech Republic)

Green Spike
Honeyland [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ljubomir Stefanov, Tamara …
intervista: Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir …
scheda film] — Ljubo Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska (North Macedonia)

Seminci Joven Award
My Extraordinary Summer with Tess [+leggi anche:
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