18/06/2018 - The festival's 4th edition saw Spain's Carlos Marques-Marcet walk away with the top prize, while Gabrielle Brady’s Island of the Hungry Ghosts triumphed in the Best Documentary category

The 4^th edition of the Valletta Film Festival came to a close yesterday, following Saturday evening’s awards ceremony at the stunning Pjazza Teatru Rjal, an open-air venue redesigned from the ruins of the ancient Royal Opera House, destroyed by Luftwaffe bombs back in 1942.

The Feature Film Competition jury, composed of Belgian director Philippe Van Leeuw, British director and producer Zara Balfour and Maltese poet and author Immanuel Mifsud, handed the main award to Spanish filmmaker Carlos Marques-Marcet for his second feature film, Anchor and Hope [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carlos Marques-Marcet
film profile]. In the words of the jury, the film “effortlessly portrays the love of a couple - a couple which happens to be made up of two women – and presents this love as the simple kind that is experienced by any couple. With no overt politics or any emphasis on the couple’s difference, their love is a naturally integrated part of the society in which they live”. Marques-Marcet thanked the festival and the jury in a video speech, stating that “any kind of help given to a film like ours is a huge support; it’s what keeps us going”. The film’s script, which he wrote alongside Jules Nurrish, also clinched them the Best Screenplay award.

Other winners in the section included Pity [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Babis Makridis
film profile] by Greece’s Babis Makridis (Best Director) and Styx [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Wolfgang Fischer
film profile] by Germany’s Wolfgang Fischer (Best Performance for Susanne Wolff and Best Cinematographer for Benedict Neuenfels).

Australian filmmaker Gabrielle Brady triumphed with Island of the Hungry Ghosts [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] in the Documentary Competition, whose jury included Belgian filmmaker Annick Ghijzelings, US-British journalist and documentary producer Carol Nahra and Cineuropa editorial coordinator David González. In their words, the German-British-Australian co-production provides “a full and mind-blowing cinematic experience, at once visual, auditory, metaphorical, poetic and political, where fact and fiction intermingle and weave a narrative, divulging a world of beauty and horror - a marked departure from the usual viewer experience”. The award for Best Cinematography was awarded to Christian Kermer for his work in Welcome to Sodom [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Austrian directors Florian Weigensamer and Christian Krönes, and a Special Mention went to Of Fathers and Sons [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Talal Derki.

The Short Film Competition, meanwhile, saw Deer Boy by Poland’s Kataryna Katarzyna Gondek triumph, with a Special Mention going to Correspondance pelliculaire by France’s Bruno Bouchard. And last but not least, the British-Nepali production, Children of the Snow Land [+see also:
trailer
film profile], by Zara Balfour and Marcus Stephenson, walked away with both the Teens Choice Award and the Audience Award. 

The full list of awards is as follows:

Feature Film Competition

Best Feature Film
Anchor and Hope [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carlos Marques-Marcet
film profile] - Carlos Marques-Marcet (Spain/UK)

Best Director
Babis Makridis – Pity [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Babis Makridis
film profile] (Greece/Poland)

Best Performance
Susanne Wolff – Styx [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Wolfgang Fischer
film profile] (Germany/Austria)

Best Cinematographer
Benedict Neuenfels – Styx

Best Screenplay
Carlos Marques-Marcet & Jules Nurrish - Anchor and Hope 

Documentary Competition

Best Documentary
Island of the Hungry Ghosts [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Gabrielle Brady (UK/Germany/Australia)

Best Cinematographer
Christian Kermer - Welcome to Sodom [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Austria)

Special Mention
Of Fathers and Sons [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Talal Derki (Germany/Syria/Lebanon)

Short Film Competition

Best Short Film
Deer Boy - Kataryna Katarzyna Gondek (Poland)

Special Mention
Correspondance pelliculaire - Bruno Bouchard (France)

Other awards

Teens Choice Award
Children of the Snow Land [+see also:
trailer
film profile] - Zara Balfour, Marcus Stephenson (UK/Nepal)

Audience Award
Children of the Snow Land - Zara Balfour, Marcus Stephenson