11/12/2023 - The second feature film by Turkish director Selman Nacar scooped the festival’s main award, while Sofia Exarchou’s Animal claimed the Cineuropa Prize

At the end of a week of shared discoveries and passions, the jury of the 23rd Cinemamed – Brussels Mediterranean Film Festival awarded its Grand Prize to Salman Nacar’s Turkish work Hesitation Wound [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Selman Nacar
film profile]. The film follows the complicated path of a young female lawyer who is forced to make the difficult choice between her professional commitments and her family. Won over unanimously, the jury explained its decision as follows: "A masterful approach to this artistic form, skilful management of time and storytelling, a subtle yet keen and questioning eye on Turkish society… Through the fight of one woman, played by the brilliant Tülin Özen, we discovered a story poised between the legal system and family bereavement, and a strong character who refuses to accept the rules of a world which is foreign to her, where honest justice is impossible. With restraint and affection for every single one of her characters, the director paints a rich portrait of a small town which rapidly becomes a microcosm for a corrupt world spinning out of control".

The jury also rewarded Alice Rohrwacher’s dreamlike film La Chimera [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], discovered in competition in Cannes, entrusting it with a Special Prize, and paid tribute to Sofia Exarchou’s Greek movie Animal [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sofia Exarchou
film profile] by way of a Special Mention. The movie clearly made an impression since it also bagged both the Citizens’ Jury Prize and the Cineuropa Prize. This second feature film by the filmmaker, which went down a storm in Locarno, earning its protagonist Dimitra Vlagopoulou the Best Actress trophy, unfolds over the course of one summer, following the life and, primarily, the nocturnal ups and downs, of an entertainer in an all-inclusive hotel. While telling the tale of this heroine’s broken destiny, the movie reveals the underside of a consumer society on the slide.

Greece, the summertime and the beach were also celebrated by the Audience Award, which singled out The Summer with Carmen [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Zacharias Mavroeidis
film profile] by Greece’s Zacharias Mavroeidis as its champion, a movie first discovered in Venice’s Giornate degli Autori.

The Critics’ Jury, meanwhile, sang the praises of Creatura [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elena Martín Gimeno
film profile], another second feature film - this time by Spanish director Elena Martín Gimeno - which was first discovered in the Directors’ Fortnight. The jury applauded this "movie combining sensory visual work, pertinent themes to reflect upon and emotional intimacy. It reveals a committed and courageous approach from an actress and a director who is a credit to women everywhere; a work which, in our opinion, deserves to be foregrounded on account of its carnal and lively aura". The movie also scooped the Les Grenades Prize.

Last but not least came another film which left its mark on the jury: Nora El Hourch’s debut feature film Sisterhood [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nora El Hourch
film profile], which walked away with the ReVolution Prize and the Young Jury Prize. The film follows in the footsteps of Amina, Djeneba and Zineb, three inseparable teenage girls who post a video on social media pointing the finger at someone who attacked one of their trio. But they find themselves forced to choose between saving their friendship or caving in to pressure.

The full list of winners is as follows:

Competition

Grand Prize
Hesitation Wound [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Selman Nacar
film profile] - Selman Nacar (Turkey/France/Spain/Romania)

Special Jury Prize
La Chimera [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Alice Rohrwacher (Italy/Switzerland/France)

Jury Special Mention
Animal [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sofia Exarchou
film profile] - Sofia Exarchou (Greece/Austria/Romania/Cyprus/Bulgaria)

ReVolution Competition

ReVolution Prize
Sisterhood [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nora El Hourch
film profile] - Nora El Hourch (France/Morocco)

Young Jury Prize
Sisterhood - Nora El Hourch
Special Mention
Almost Entirely a Slight Disaster - Umut Subași (Turkey)

Other awards

Cineuropa Prize
Animal - Sofia Exarchou

Citizens’ Jury Award
Animal - Sofia Exarchou

Critics’ Prize
Creatura [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elena Martín Gimeno
film profile] - Elena Martín Gimeno

Les Grenades Prize
Creatura - Elena Martín Gimeno

Audience Award
The Summer with Carmen [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Zacharias Mavroeidis
film profile] - Zacharias Mavroeidis (Greece)

(Translated from French)