03/04/2023 - The documentaries by Alain Kassanda and Harald Hutter share the Grand Prize in the International Competition; To the West, in Zapata by David Beltrán i Marí wins in Work in Progress

The feature film jury at the 45th Cinéma du réel Festival (which included Dyana Gaye, Rémi Lainé, Nicolas Mollard, María Palacios Cruz and Juan Manuel Sepúlveda) has crowned two feature films in the international competition: Coconut Head Generation by Alain Kassanda and Up the River with Acid by Harald Hutter, two works by filmmakers born under different stars (Congolese origins for the former, Canadian for the latter), living in Paris, and producing their films themselves.

Handled by Paris-based company Ajímátí Films, Coconut Head Generation is set in the University of Ibadan, the oldest in Nigeria, where every Thursday, a group of students organises a film club, transforming a small amphitheatre into a political agora where they refine their vision and develop a critical voice.

Up the River With Acid recounts two days in the life of Horst, an elderly man whose life has been upended by dementia.

It is worth noting that the jury handed out a Special Mention to Allensworth by US director James Benning, first unveiled in the Berlinale Forum.

The International SCAM Award singled out Being in a Place – A Portrait of Margaret Tait [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Scottish filmmaker Luke Fowler, also discovered in the Berlinale Forum, while the Institut Français - Louis Marcorelles Award went to the French-Colombian co-production Ana Rosa by Catalina Villar, who wonders why her grandmother had a lobotomy and who, by pulling on the threads of this drama, explores the connections between psychiatry and the society of its time, as well as the very particular place of women in this history… Finally, the SACEM Award recognised the score composed by Glenn Larzin for Ciompi [+see also:
film review
film profile] by France’s Agnès Perrais.

At the 10^th edition of Work in Progress, the winner was the Cuban-Spanish project To the West, in Zapata by David Beltrán i Marí. The film centres on Landi who spends long stretches alone in the inhospitable Cuban swamp to the west of Zapata. There, he stocks up on what nature has to offer and poaches crocodiles with little more than his bare hands. On the coast, his wife, Mercedes, cares for their son who has severe autism. The days go by, and Mercedes grows impatient, as Landi should have been back by now and she has no news. Finally, he returns, carrying meat that they trade for other food to subsist for a while until he must go back inland to the marshes. Their lives are a circle marked by need and absences…

The full list of winners is as follows:

Cinéma du réel Grand Prize
Coconut Head Generation - Alain Kassanda (France/Nigeria)
Up the River with Acid - Harald Hutter (France)
Special Mention
Allensworth - James Benning (USA)

International SCAM Award
Being in a Place – A Portrait of Margaret Tait [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Luke Fowler (UK)

Institut Français - Louis Marcorelles Award
Ana Rosa - Catalina Villar (France/Colombia)

SACEM Award
Ciompi [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Agnès Perrais (France)

Loridan Ivens / CNAP Award
La Bonga - Sebastián Pinzón Silva, Canela Reyes (Colombia/USA)
Special Mention
Up the River With Acid - Harald Hutter

Short Film Award
Last Things – Deborah Stratman (France/Portugal)

Tënk Award
Cinzas e nuvens – Margaux Dauby (Belgium/Portugal, short film)

Young People’s Ciné+ Award
The Base [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Vadim Dumesh (France)

Short Films and First Films Jury Special Mention
Sandbox – Lucas Azémar and Charlotte Chericie (France, mid-length film)

Libraries Prize
Adieu Sauvage [+see also:
film review
interview: Sergio Guataquira Sarmiento
film profile] - Sergio Guataquira Sarmiento (Belgium/France)

Intangible Cultural Heritage Award
La Bonga - Sebastián Pinzón Silva, Canela Reyes

Prisoners’ Award
Piblokto – Anastasia Shubina and Timofey Glinin (Russia/USA, short film)
Special Mention
Un Coeur Perdu et Autres Rêves de Beyrouth - Maya Abdul-Malak (France/Lebanon, short film)

Clarens Award for Best Humanist Documentary
The Trial [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Ulises de la Orden (Argentina/Italy/France/Norway)
Special Mention
Coconut Head Generation - Alain Kassanda

First Window Audience Award
Quitter Chouchou – Lucie Demange (France, short film)

WIP – Orlando Favourite
To the West, in Zapata - David Beltrán i Marí (Cuba/Spain)

Route One Award (short film projects)
Brille la terre – Andréa Vicini (France)

Préludes Award For Digitalisation
Prova di Stato – Leonardo Di Costanzo

Préludes Award For Restoration
Juliette du côté des hommes – Claudine Bories

(Translated from French)