Namur hands out its Bayards
The Jury of the 20th Namur International Francophone Film Festival, which closed on Friday night, chose to award the Golden Bayard for Best Film to the first feature by Rumanian Cristi Piu, La Mort de Mr Lazarescu [+see also:
trailer
film profile], for his detailed and unforgettable tableau of the end of an ordinary life " (Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes). His principal actress, Luminta Gheorgiu, received the Golden Bayard for Best Actress. Delwende by Pierre S Yaméogo, a Swiss Burkino Faso co-production, was also present at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard, won the Special Jury prize, who defined it as its "sudden impulse".
Non professional actor in the Lebanese-French co-production A Perfect Day by Khalil Joreige and Joana Hadjithomas, the magnificent Ziaad Saad’s participation in the film won him the award from a jury mostly made up of actors (Pascale Buissières, Eric Caravaca, Stefano Cassetti and also Elina Lowenshon) who recognized too the power of his interpretation and "the way he faced up to a difficult character with great humility". The film also won a Special Jury prize. The documentary Jury, presided over by the Swiss director Nicolas Wadimoff awarded the Benine director Idrissou Mora Kpai for his second feature Arlit, deuxième Paris, also at Cannes in Un Certain Regard. The other prize at the festival, Best Screenplay went to Marcel Beaulieu and Francis Leclerc for the Quebec film Mémoires Affectives, Best Soundtrack to Franck 2 Louise, composer of the beautiful first feature fiction by Christophe Otzenberger, Itinéraires.
Other important prizes are worth mentioning since they came from a non professional audience : The Public Prize, attributed to the film by the Swiss of Polish origin Greg Zelinski, Tout un hiver sans feu, the Young Jury prize to Bunker Paradise Belgian Stefan Liberski and finally the Junior Jury Prize rewarded the highly colourful incest fantasy by Bruno Podalydès, Le Parfum de la Dame en Noir [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bruno Podalydès
interview: Pascal Caucheteux
film profile].
Other prizes awarded at the festival:
Golden Bayard for Best Short Film :
Du Soleil en hiver by Samuel Collardey, France
Prix Cine and Fx :
Barrage by Raphaël Jacoulot, France
Best Short Film Prize from the Belgian French Community
Etats d'âmes by Xavier Mairesse, Belgique
(Translated from French)
Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.
