17/11/2014 - Céline Sciamma’s third feature collected the 7.3 kg Bronze Horse at the festival’s 25th anniversary edition

Céline Sciamma after collecting her Bronze Horse (© Carla Orrego Veliz)

French director Céline Sciamma’s third feature, Girlhood [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Céline Sciamma
interview: Céline Sciamma
film profile], which was launched in the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, has won the Grand Prix – the 7.3 kg Bronze Horse – at the Stockholm International Film Festival, which ended on Sunday (16 November). 

“It fills a gap in the stories told about Paris,” said the jury, chaired by Swedish director Daniel Espinosa, about the film, which centres on a young girl in a Parisian suburb, Marieme, and her transformation from a sober, annoyed child into a rebellious young woman in control of her life. Starring Karidja Touré, it most recently won the TVE Another Look Award at San Sebastian.

For the third year in a row, a female (and for the fourth time a French) director collected the main award at the festival, which celebrated its 25^th anniversary by screening over 200 movies from 60 countries. It also handed the world’s heaviest film prizes to UK director Mike Leigh (Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award), US actress Uma Thurman (Stockholm Achievement Award) and Swedish director Roy Andersson (Stockholm Visionary Award).

France’s Crystel Fournier was named Best Cinematographer for her work on Girlhood and Croatian director Ognjen Svilicic’s These Are the Rules [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which also won for Best Actress (Jasna Zalica) and Best Actor (Emir Hadzihafizbegovic). Swedish actress Julia Ragnarsson went home with the Stockholm Rising Star Award; after appearing in Swedish director Karin Fahlén’s Stockholm Stories and Danish filmmaker Ole Christian Madsen’s Itsi Bitsi [+see also:
trailer
film profile], she will be seen in Scottish director Jim Gillespie’s thriller Take Down. 

FULL LIST OF STOCKHOLM 2014 AWARDS
Best Film: Girlhood – Céline Sciamma (France)
Best Film Debut: A Girl at My Door – July Jung (South Korea)
Best Original Screenplay: Nima Javidi, for Melbourne (Iran)
Best Actress: Jasna Zalica, for These Are the Rules (Croatia)
Best Actor: Emir Hadzihafizbegovic, for These Are the Rules
Best Cinematography: Crystel Fournier (France), for These Are the Rules and Girlhood
Best Music: Luke Abbott, for The Goob [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guy Myhill
film profile] (UK)
Best Short: The Chicken – Una Gunjak (Germany, Croatia)
Telia Film Award: Long Distance [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carlos Marques-Marcet
film profile] – Carlos Marques-Marcet (Spain)
FIPRESCI Award: Hungry Hearts [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Saverio Costanzo
film profile] – Saverio Costanzo (Italy)
Stockholm Rising Star: Julia Ragnarsson (Sweden)
Stockholm Achievement Award: Uma Thurman (US)
Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award: Mike Leigh (UK)
Stockholm Visionary Award: Roy Andersson (Sweden)
1 Km Film Scholarship: Hot Chicks – Ninja Thyberg (Sweden)
Ifestival Award: A Spark at Darkest Night – Paul DeSilva (US). Voted for by festival audiences