18/10/2022 - Doclisboa’s project-development and networking spaces have rewarded a total of six projects

A moment during the awards ceremony (© Aline Macedo)

The industry section of Doclisboa’s latest edition has come to an end. In total, six projects were awarded prizes in the gathering’s different sections. Starting off with Arché, the thought and project development space, which held its eighth edition this year, 12 projects from ten different countries were selected. The jury (consisting of Hajnal Molnár-Szakács, Pedro Filipe Marques and Sarita Matijević Žilnik) then decided on the winners of the three Arché awards.

Savanna and the Mountain by Paulo Carneiro received the RTP Award for Best Feature-length Project at the Editing or First-cut Stage. This Portuguese-Uruguayan co-production, currently at the editing stage, has brought director Carneiro to Covas do Barroso, a town close to Bostofrio (where his father was born and where he directed his first feature), as the local community has to deal with the threat of possible mining in the region. The jury was “impressed by its cinematic language, which gives strength to a community to get their voice of resistance back”.

Arché hands out two awards for the best projects at the writing or development stage. The Selina Award was given to Mariana Bomba’s Continuum, as it “connects the urgency of love with the passion for cinema and creative experimentation”. The project from Argentina tells “the love story of two women who, at the beginning of the 1990s, link their lives with an invisible thread that soon becomes an overflowing feat of experimentation, joy and bonding in one of the fiercest generations of female filmmakers in Argentina”. There is also the School of Arts, Universidade Católica do Porto Award, which this year was given to the Spanish project House Made of Mist by Alberto Dexeus. It’s a project with autobiographical connections, in which the director “writes a letter to his dead grandmother”, coming out to her, “albeit at the wrong time, and in which he asks her a series of questions related to the death of her sister in the fascist bombing that destroyed the Liceu Escolar in 1937”. The jury opined that the filmmaking “pushes the boundaries of form” in its attempt to “understand the trauma caused by civil war and repression”, with a courageous drive to “confront secrets and hidden traumas”.

Besides the Arché awards, Doclisboa also announced the winners of this year’s Nebulae, the festival’s main networking space. The Nebulae selection included projects from this year’s guest country, France, as well as some from previously invited countries (Germany, Georgia and Croatia). First up was the DAE Talent Encouragement Award, which grants free one-year memberships for the directors and producers, and a tailor-made consultancy session with senior DAE consultants. The jury (Brigid O’Shea) awarded the project Beyond Landscape by Etienne de France, produced by Aymeric Isnard (Futur Antérieur). Then there is the Pitch the Doc Award, which goes to one of the selected projects from the guest country and entails expert consultancy. This year’s winner, selected by Adam Palinski and Katarzyna Szarecka, was the French-Italian co-production Under the Volcano by Sara Rastegar and Simone Pozzi, produced by Jasmina Sijercic (Bocalupo Film) and Giovanni Donfrancesco (Altara Films). Last but not least, the DAFilms Award rewards a debut or second film selected by a DAFilms representative (Christopher Small). This prize includes €5,000 in-kind, as well as a release on DAFilms (including in the Americas, Europe and Asia), amongst many other perks. Clara Jost’s “Lettre à Eric Pauwels” ou a Florista e o Cônsul, a Portuguese-French co-production produced by Anze Persin (Stenar Projects) and Carole Chassaing (Tamara Films), was the winning project.

Here is the full list of Doclisboa’s industry award winners:

Arché awards

RTP Award for Best Feature-length Project at the Editing or First-cut Stage
Savannah and the Mountain - Paulo Carneiro (Portugal/Uruguay)

Selina Award for Best Project at the Writing or Development Stage
Continuum - Mariana Bomba (Argentina)

School of Arts, Universidade Católica Portuguesa Award - Special Arché Jury Award for a Project at the Writing or Development Stage
House Made of Mist - Alberto Dexeus (Spain)

Nebulae awards

DAE Talent Encouragement Award
Beyond Landscape - Etienne de France (France)
Producer: Aymeric Isnard (Futur Antérieur)

Pitch the Doc Award - Award for One of the Selected Projects from the Guest Country
Under the Volcano – Sara Rastegar, Simone Pozzi (France/Italy)
Producers: Jasmina Sijercic (Bocalupo Film), Giovanni Donfrancesco (Altara Films)

DAFilms.com Award
"Lettre à Eric Pauwels" ou a Florista e o Cônsul - Clara Jost (Portugal/France)
Producers: Anze Persin (Stenar Projects), Carole Chassaing (Tamara Films)