30/08/2023 - The Spanish sci-fi drama by Luis Tinoco has also taken home the Best Performance Award, bestowed upon its lead actress, Andrea Trepat

On Saturday 27 August, the sixth edition of Nòt Film Fest came to a close in Santarcangelo di Romagna. The gathering, headed up by Giovanni Labadessa and Alizé Latini, took place from 22-27 August. This year, the Romagna-based independent film festival hosted a total of 111 works, encompassing features, shorts, music videos and branded films hailing from 27 countries.

The Sferisterio open-air cinema was the venue for the closing ceremony, which was presented by the two artistic directors. In the Moonwalker Features section, the gong for Best Film went to The Antares Paradox [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Spain) by Luis Tinoco. The movie’s main character is a scientist at a Spanish SETI observatory (played by Andrea Trepat), who one day picks up a mysterious signal that seems to come from the star Antares and be transmitted by extraterrestrial lifeforms. In a race against time, she will be forced to decide whether to continue her investigation into what could prove to be the discovery of the century, or remain close to her family and her father, who is seriously ill.

For her intense and convincing performance, Trepat picked up the Best Performance Award. Meanwhile, the Best Director Award ended up going to the dystopian sci-fi flick Once Upon a Time in the Future: 2121 [+see also:
interview: Serpil Altın
film profile] (Turkey), helmed by Serpil Altin. The prizes were given out on stage by the three jury members: screenwriter Tommy Swerdlow, producer Kyle Stroud and Cineuropa journalist Davide Abbatescianni.

In Shooting Star Features, the section devoted to pictures by up-and-coming directors, the Award for Best Film was handed to Solidão, que nada by Gabriel Alvim (Brazil). An Italian title, Unbelievers [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Alessandro Marzullo, scored the Award for Best Director. Lastly, the Award for Best Performance was tied: the victors were Emma Benini, an actress in Girls Don’t Cry (Italy), and Rory Alexander, an actor in Inland [+see also:
film review
interview: Fridtjof Ryder
film profile] (UK). The jury for this section saw the participation of senior manager of the Sundance Ignite programme Toby Brooks, director Paolo Strippoli and visual effects supervisor Chad Peter.

Here is the full list of winners:

Moonwalker Features

Best Film
The Antares Paradox [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Luis Tinoco (Spain)

Best Director
Serpil Altin – Once Upon a Time in the Future: 2121 [+see also:
interview: Serpil Altın
film profile] (Turkey)

Best Performance
Andrea Trepat – The Antares Paradox
Special Mentions
David Agranov – A Pity (USA)
Tolepbergen Baisakalov, Seydulla Moldakhanov – Steppe (Kazakhstan)

Shooting Star Features

Best Film
Solidão, que nada - Gabriel Alvim (Brazil)

Best Director
Alessandro Marzullo – Unbelievers (Italy)

Best Performance
Emma Benini – Girls Don’t Cry (Italy)
Rory Alexander – Inland [+see also:
film review
interview: Fridtjof Ryder
film profile] (UK)

Superdocs

Best Feature
Children of Peace - Maayan Schwartz (Israel)

Best Short Film
Queen Moorea - Christine Fugate (USA)

Moonwalker Shorts

Best Film
Fairplay - Zoel Aeschbacher (France)

Best Director
Maximilian Dobbin, Anthony Lee – The First Circle (UK)

Best Performance
Artyom Akhremchuk, Matvey Shilets – Friend (Belarus)

Shooting Star Shorts

Best Film
Leaving Yellowstone - Kayla Arend (USA)

Best Director
Andreas Sheittanis – A Night of Riots (Cyprus)

Best Performance
Sean Ricciardi, Angela Wong Carbone – Leaving Yellowstone

Best Experimental Film
I Am Whole – Bianca Poletti (USA)

Nòtstream Award
Miss Underwater - Megan Cullen (Australia)
On Point - Christian Schifano (USA)

Other awards

Director’s Cut Award
Bleed Don’t Die - Vitoria Vasconcellos (Brazil) (short film)

E-R Filmmakers
Tre ragazzi - Gianfranco Boattini (Italy) (short film)

Young Jury Award
68.415 - Antonella Sabatino, Stefano Blasi (Italy) (short film)

Music Bomb Award
La vida es fría - Estevan Oriol (USA) (short film)
Special Mention
Smashed - Federica Marchese, Jean Michel Sinister Munoz (USA) (short film)

Branded Popcorn Award
Ode to Procrastination - Aleksandra Kingo (UK) (short film)

Filmamo Award
Solidão, que nada – Gabriel Alvim
The Antares Paradox – Luis Tinoco

Nòt A Chance Award
Iron Love – Simone Franzolini (Italy)

(Translated from Italian)