email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

FESTIVALS Greece

Belfast riot drama ’71 wins Athens

by 

- Yann Demange’s Berlinale contender picked up the Golden Athena, while Michalis Konstantatos’ Luton won Best Greek Debut

Belfast riot drama ’71 wins Athens
’71 by Yann Demange

Yann Demange’s keen sense of the era and his ability to engross the viewer in the action of the Troubles in 1971 Belfast won the Franco-Algerian director the top honours at the Athens International Film Festival’s awards gala on Sunday night, where his British war drama ’71 [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Yann Demange
film profile
]
picked up the Golden Athena. 

Danish Cannes Critics’ Week entry When Animals Dream [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jonas Alexander Arnby
film profile
]
earned Jonas Alexander Arnby the Best Director Award, while the festival’s jury handed the Best Screenplay Award to Eskil Vogt for Blind [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eskil Vogt
interview: Eskil Vogt
film profile
]
. After winning the screenplay gong at Sundance, where the film had its world debut, this is the second writing win for Vogt, who also helmed this Norwegian production. 

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

The Audience Award went to Daniel Ribeiro’s Brazilian drama The Way He Looks, a film also tapped as Best Feature by the FIPRESCI jury in Berlin’s Panorama section earlier this year. Meanwhile, the Sundance documentary winner 20,000 Days on Earth [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, celebrating Nick Cave’s life and work, won directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard top honours in the Music & Film programme, where Florian Habicht’s Pulp: A Film About Life, Death and Supermarkets [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
picked up an Honourable Mention.

The festival also celebrated the year’s Greek production by handing out its newcomer awards, for which all local films having screened in the past 12 months were eligible. Michalis KonstantatosLuton [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
picked up the Best Directorial Debut prize, while Little England [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
’s acting duo Pinelopi Tsilika and Sophia Kokkali shared Best New Actress. Best New Actor went to Haris Fragoulis for his work in Nicholas TriandafyllidisThe Sentimentalists. Lastly, the Locarno-screened II by Efthimis Kosemund Sanidis topped the shorts section.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy