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FESTIVALS Malta

Columbus and Insyriated conquer the Valletta Film Festival

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- The American indie title and the French-Belgian effort have received the main Triton Awards at the third edition of Malta’s Valletta Film Festival

Columbus and Insyriated conquer the Valletta Film Festival
Nico Mensinga receiving the Best Screenplay Triton for Daphne

The third edition of the Valletta Film Festival (VFF) has wrapped after ten days full of film screenings, discussions and special events. The VFF handed out nine Triton Awards during the closing ceremony, which was held on Saturday 24 June at Pjazza Teatru Rjal.

The jury for the fiction competition – comprising Iranian filmmaker Mania Akbari, Swedish director, cinematographer and last year’s VFF winner Måns Månsson, director and scriptwriter Rebecca Daly, French producer Didier Boujard and director Danilo Bećković – honoured Kogonada’s US indie film Columbus with two Triton Awards, for Best Picture and Best Actress for the performance by Haley Lu Richardson. The night’s other big winner was Philippe Van Leeuw, who received the Best Director Triton for Insyriated [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Philippe Van Leeuw
film profile
]
. Furthermore, the film was also popular with viewers at Valletta, as it received the Audi Audience Award. The jury awarded Macedonian actor Nikola Ristanovski the Best Actor Triton for his performance in The Black Pin [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ivan Marinovic
film profile
]
 by Ivan Marinovic. Scriptwriter Nico Mensinga received Best Screenplay for Daphne [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Peter Mackie Burns, while the Best Cinematography Triton was handed to Paolo Sorrentino regular Luca Bigazzi for Sicilian Ghost Story [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile
]
 by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza. Finally, Goodbye Berlin [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 by Fatih Akin received the Teens’ Choice Award, handed out by a jury of teenagers.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

In the official documentary competition, The Good Postman [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Tonislav Hristov received the Best Documentary Triton. The jury, made up of producer Ri Chakraborty, German director and artist Bettina Hutschek and director David Ruf, gave a Special Mention to Taste of Cement [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Ziad Kalthoum.

The stop-motion animation Ayny, My Second Eye by Palestinian director Ahmad Saleh snagged the Triton for Best Short Film, handed out by a jury comprising director Goce Cvetanovski, actor Paul Portelli and marketing strategist Mathias Noschis.

The Valletta Film Festival, organised by the Film Grain Foundation, will be back in June 2018 with a very special fourth edition.

Here is the complete list of winners at the Valletta Film Festival:

Best Feature Film
Columbus – Kogonada (USA)

Best Director 
Philippe Van Leeuw – Insyriated [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Philippe Van Leeuw
film profile
]
(Belgium/France/Lebanon)

Best Actor 
Nikola Ristanovski – The Black Pin [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ivan Marinovic
film profile
]
(Montenegro/Serbia)

Best Actress 
Haley Lu Richardson – Columbus

Best Screenplay 
Nico Mensinga – Daphne [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(UK)

Best Cinematography
Luca Bigazzi – Sicilian Ghost Story [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile
]
(Italy/France/Switzerland)

Best Documentary
The Good Postman [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 – Tonislav Hristov (Bulgaria/Finland)

Documentary Special Mention 
Taste of Cement [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 – Ziad Kalthoum (Germany/Lebanon/Syria/United Arab Emirates)

Best Short Film
Ayny, My Second Eye – Ahmad Saleh (Germany/Jordan/Palestine)

Teens’ Choice Award
Goodbye Berlin [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 – Fatih Akin (Germany)

Audi Audience Award
Insyriated – Philippe Van Leeuw

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