27/11/2023 - Spaniard María Elorza’s film was deemed by the jury of the festival’s tenth edition to be “the most welcome surprise in the competition”

Director María Elorza picking up her award for To Books and Women I Sing (© João Cruz)

Porto/Post/Doc’s tenth edition has come to an end. After a nine-day run in several locations across the city of Porto, the festival has announced this year’s winners. The international competition jury, composed of Leo Goldsmith, Salomé Jashi and José Luis Cienfuegos, awarded María Elorza’s To Books and Women I Sing [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: María Elorza and Marian Fer…
film profile] with the Grand Jury Prize Vicente Pinto Abreu, as they considered it to be “the most welcome surprise in the competition, a film that feels immediate, organically warm, and full of humour that is both friendly and a little dark”.

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In the Cinema Falado section, which is dedicated exclusively to films in the Portuguese language (from different lusophone countries), including both shorts and features, the main prize, the SPAutores – Cinema Falado Award, was given to Lucefece: Where there is no vision, the people will perish [+see also:
film review
film profile], directed by Ricardo Leite. According to statement by the jury, comprising Matthieu Orléan, Maria do Carmo Piçarra and Luis E Parés, they were “very enthusiastic about the chemical, almost alchemical, physical materiality of the film itself”. An Honourable Mention was also handed to the short 2720 by Basil da Cunha.

In the competitive section focused on documentaries about music and cultural movements, Transmission, the main award was given to Seven Jereles, making it the second time directors Gonzalo García Pelayo and Pedro G Romero have been rewarded in this section of the festival (the first time being in 2021, with their feature Nueve Sevillas).

As part of the industry section, the festival hosted Arché-Porto, in collaboration with Apordoc: the development lab is aimed at Ibero-American filmmakers with projects at different stages of development and production. After the selected projects were pitched, the Arché Jury Prize went to Pedro Gonçalves Ribeiro’s project Bocaína, produced by Filmes de Plástico (Brazil). It was perceived as a “unique and real promise in terms of its ideas, understanding and proximity to its subject, its relevance to current forms of world systems thinking, and the importance of ancestral language and conceptualisation” by the jury, consisting of Dorota Lech, Nuno de Campos and Rachael Rakes.

Also included in the festival’s industry programme was the Working Class Heroes section, organised by Porto/Post/Doc with Filmaporto – Film Commission as a partner. This creative-grant project was first instigated in 2022, and aims to support audiovisual productions made in and about Porto, inspired by the working-class community in the city. The first film ever to be made and released under the banner of this project, now in its second edition, was one of the festival’s closing movies this year: Time Takes a Cigarette by Aya Koretzky. From among the 2023 invited filmmakers and their respective pitches, the jury selected Tomás Baltazar’s project Cape of the World to receive the award. It was seen by jury members Julie Marnay, Jaime Pena and Cecilia Barrionuevo as bridging “times and spaces by confronting the director’s personal memories with the transformations of the city of Porto”. The project will be produced during a two-year residency in Porto.

The full list of award-winning films is as follows:

International Competition

Grand Jury Prize Vicente Pinto Abreu
To Books and Women I Sing [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: María Elorza and Marian Fer…
film profile] - María Elorza (Spain)

Cinema Falado Competition

SPAutores – Cinema Falado Award
Lucefece: Where there is no vision, the people will perish [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Ricardo Leite (Portugal)
Honourable Mention
2720 - Basil da Cunha (Portugal)

Transmission Competition

Transmission Award
Seven Jereles - Gonzalo García Pelayo, Pedro G Romero (Spain)

Cinema Novo Competition

Cinema Novo Award - CANAL180
Rubab - Marta Vaz (Portugal)

Teenage Award (cross-sectional)
Girls' Stories - Aga Borzym (Poland)

Working Class Heroes Award – Filmaporto
Cape of the World - Tomás Baltazar (Portugal)

Arché Award by Companhia das Culturas/Fundação Pereira Monteiro
Bocaína - Pedro Gonçalves Ribeiro (Brazil)