The 21st edition of Doclisboa has come to an end. The festival announced its winners in a ceremony taking place in Casa Independente: earth altars, by Mexican director Sofía Peypoch, was the winner of the City of Lisbon Award. For the jury, composed of Danielle Arbid, Ikbal Zalila, João Fiadeiro, Patrícia Saramago and Paula Gaitán, the film has the “ability to finely interweave personal history, big History and ancestrality, in a movement in which archaeology as a science lends historical depth to the director’s excavation of intimate trauma”. Besides the main International award, earth altars also received the cross-sectional New Talent Award. The International Competition also saw the jury awarding the RTP Prize to Belgian production Terril by Jorn Plucieniczak and an Honourable Mention to Magnificent Sky by Alexandru Badea.

One film stood out in the Portuguese Competition: As Melusinas à Margem do Rio by Melanie Pereira, which received the HBO Max Award for Best Film. The jury composed of Aida Tavares, Gareth Evans and Ignacio Agüero honoured the movie “for creating a form to reimagine a legend though the experience of working people, gender and national identity”. The film was also awarded a further two prizes in different sections: the Fernando Lopes Award and the Schools Award. The Portuguese Competition also saw the Portuguese Society of Authors Competition Jury Award handed to Memories of a Perfect Day, directed by Davina-Maria El Khoury and produced by Docnomads between Portugal, Hungary, Belgium and Lebanon.

A new award was introduced by the festival this year: the Rights and Freedoms Award Legal Partners Portugal, for which 11 films were nominated in this its first year. The winner was An Owl, a Garden and the Writer by Sara Dolatabadi, while an honourable mention went to The Trial [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] by Ulises de la Orden.

On the subject of novelties (outside of prize-giving), the festival announced a structural change: producer and programmer Paula Astorga is the new director of Doclisboa, taking over from Miguel Ribeiro, who is closing an 11-year chapter working at the festival (holding different positions over the years). According to a statement released by Doclisboa, Paula Astorga welcomes this opportunity with “the utmost sincerity and emotion”, seeing the festival as “a space where extraordinary possibilities for exchange are explored” and hoping that under this new direction “Doclisboa will continue to consolidate its status as a reference point for audiences, for Portugal and for the world’s entire independent film ecosystem”.

The festival will return to Lisbon from 17 to 27 October 2024 but, in the meantime, local audiences will be able to watch this year’s award-winning films until 1 November at Cinema Ideal.

The full list of 2023 winners is as follows:

International Competition

City of Lisbon Award for Best International Competition Film
earth altars - Sofía Peypoch (Mexico)

RTP International Competition Jury Award
Terril - Jorn Plucieniczak (Belgium)

Honourable Mention
Magnificent Sky - Alexandru Badea (Romania)

Portuguese Competition

HBO Max Award for Best Portuguese Competition Film
As Melusinas à Margem do Rio - Melanie Pereira (Portugal)

Portuguese Society of Authors Competition Jury Award
Memories of a Perfect Day - Davina-Maria El Khoury (Portugal/Hungary/Belgium/Lebanon)

Green Years

Uniarts Helsinki’s Academy of Fine Arts Award for Best Green Years Film
Sparks - Ève Le Fessant Coussonneau (France/Chile) (short film)

Pedro Fortes Award for Best Green Years Portuguese Film
By Division and Differentiation - Carolina Grilo Santos (Portugal) (short film)

Honourable Mention
Passportless Mess - Maja Penčič (Czech Republic) (short film)

Other awards

Rights and Freedoms Award Legal Partners Portugal
An Owl, a Garden and the Writer - Sara Dolatabadi (Iran/France/Switzerland)
Honourable Mention
The Trial [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] - Ulises de la Orden (Argentina/France/Italy/Norway)

Healthy Workplaces Film Award
Hormigas Perplejas - Mercedes Moncada Rodríguez (Spain)
Honourable Mention
Human, not Human - Natan Castay (Belgium) (medium-length film)

Best Short Film Award
At Night, the Red Sky - Ali Razi (France/Iran)

TV Cine New Talent Award
earth altars - Sofía Peypoch

INATEL Foundation Award
Fogo no Lodo - Catarina Laranjeiro and Daniel Barroca (Portugal)

Fernando Lopes Award
As Melusinas à Margem do Rio - Melanie Pereira

Público Newspaper Audience Award for Best Portuguese Film
Verdade ou Consequência? - Sofia Marques (Portugal)

Schools Award
As Melusinas à Margem do Rio - Melanie Pereira