10/10/2016 - Arnaud des Pallières’ film has been awarded the Bayard d’Or for Best Film at the Namur International French-Language Film Festival, with its leading ladies sharing the Bayard for Best Actress

Director Arnaud des Pallières receives his Bayard d’Or (© FIFF)

French film Orphan [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arnaud des Pallières
film profile] by Arnaud des Pallières (Michael Kohlhaas [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arnaud des Pallières
film profile], Park [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), successfully won over the jury of the Namur International French-Language Film Festival, chaired by Bouli Lanners, taking home the festival’s top prize, the Bayard d’Or for Best Film, and earning Adèle Exarchopoulos, Adèle Haenel, Solène Rigot and Vega Cuzytek the right to share the Bayard for Best Actress. It was also awarded the BeTV Feature Film Award. Featuring alongside it on the winners’ list is, as is often the case at Namur, a Romanian film. This year it is Adrian Sitaru’s Illegitimate [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adrian Sitaru
film profile], which won the Bayard for Best Screenplay and earned Adrian Titieni the Bayard for Best Actor.

The Special Jury Award was handed out to A Young Girl in Her Nineties [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the documentary directed by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Yann Coridian, which also managed to charm audiences, winning the Audience Award for Best Documentary. The jury was also rather taken with Claude Barras’My Life as a Courgette [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Claude Barras
film profile], and praised David Toutebois’ hard work, awarding him the Bayard for Best Cinematography. Finally, the jury wished to recognise Sébastien Betbeder’s Le Voyage au Groenland [+see also:
trailer
interview: Frédéric Dubreuil
film profile], awarding it a Special Mention.

The Émile Cantillon youth jury, which was set the task of choosing the best feature debut, decided on Lebanese film Tramontane [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Vatche Boulghourjian, a director of Armenian descent, for the Discovery Award and bestowed the Bayard d'Or for Best Debut Film upon Davy Chou’s French-Cambodian film Diamond Island [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. The junior jury, drawn in by the film’s adolescent energy, gave their prize to 1:54 by Quebecois director Yan England.

Also of note are the Parallel Awards, handed out by the festival’s partners, including the UPCB/UCC Critics’ Award, which was given to the Belgian debut film Even Lovers Get the Blues [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Laurent Micheli, and the Cinevox Award, which was given to the Belgian film, A Wedding [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stephan Streker
film profile], by Stephan Streker. Finally, the Audience Award for Best Feature Film went to Lucien Jean-Baptiste’s latest comedy, Il a déjà tes yeux [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

Here is the complete list of award-winning feature films:

Bayard d’Or for Best Film
Orphan [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arnaud des Pallières
film profile] – Arnaud Des Pallières (France)

Special Jury Prize
A Young Girl in Her Nineties [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Valeria Tedeschi, Yann Coridian (France)

Bayard for Best Screenplay
Alina Grigore & Adrian Sitaru – Illegitimate [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adrian Sitaru
film profile] (Romania/Poland/France)

Bayard for Best Cinematography
David Toutevoix – My Life as a Courgette [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Claude Barras
film profile] (Switzerland/France)

Bayard for Best Actress
Adèle Haenel, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Véga Cuzytek, Solène Rigot – Orphan

Bayard for Best Actor
Adrian Titieni - Illegitimate

Special Mention
Le Voyage au Groenland [+see also:
trailer
interview: Frédéric Dubreuil
film profile] – Sébastien Betbeder (France)

Bayard for Best Debut Film
Diamond Island [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Davy Chou (Cambodia/France/Germany/Thailand/Qatar)

Discovery Award
Tramontane [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Vatche Boulghourjian (Lebanon/ France/Qatar/United Arab Emerites)

The City of Namur Audience Award for Best Feature Film
Il a déjà tes yeux [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Lucien Jean-Baptiste (France/Belgium)

The Provence of Namur Audience Award for Best Documentary
A Young Girl in Her Nineties – Valeria Bruni Tedeschi & Yann Coridian

Junior Jury Award
1:54 - Yan England (Canada)

Cinevox Award – Belgian Feature Film
A Wedding [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stephan Streker
film profile] - Stephan Streker (Belgium/France/Luxembourg/Pakistan)

Critics’ Award – Belgian Feature Film
Even Lovers Get the Blues [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Laurent Micheli (Belgique)

BeTV Award – Feature Film
Orpheline - Arnaud Des Pallières

(Translated from French)