04/07/2024 - Two documentaries triumphed in the National Competition and in the Directors’ Week: Who Cares? by Alexe Poukine and The Mountains by Christian Einshøj

The 7th edition of the Brussels International Film Festival (BRIFF) wrapped on Wednesday with the unveiling of its victors, the biggest of which being Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu’s movie, Jim’s Story [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu
film profile], which was first unveiled in the Cannes Première section of the most recent Cannes Film Festival. The brothers’ nineth fiction feature film, which is adapted from Pierric Bailly’s novel of the same name - which caused a stir when published in 2021 - and buoyed by a first-class cast led by Karim Leklou, is due for release on 14 August both in France and in Belgium. The International Competition jury, composed of Michel Leclerc, Anne Coesens, Fabrizio Rongione and Stéphan Castang, then chose to award its Jury Prize to María Alché and Benjamín Naishtat’s Argentine film Puan [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benjamín Naishtat and María…
film profile], falling somewhere between a university comedy and a social chronicle, as well as a Special Mention to actresses Zar Amir Ebrahimi and Arienne Mando for their performance in Tatami [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which is directed by Zar Amir Ebrahimi herself alongside Guy Nattiv.

The National Competition is also a highly anticipated feature of the festival line-up. Composed of Fabien Hagège, Johanna Nahon and Arnaud Godard, the jury of this section awarded its Grand Prize to filmmaker Alexe Poukine’s new documentary, Who Cares? [+see also:
film review
interview: Alexe Poukine
film profile], which invites us to accompany nurses on their rounds and asks the question: can nurses carry out their roles with kindness when working within an abusive system? The movie also bagged the Audience Award courtesy of this competition. The other big winner was For Night Will Come [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Céline Rouzet
film profile] by Céline Rouzet, discovered in Venice’s Orizzonti section, which won the Jury Prize as well as earning Best Actor and Best Actress trophies for Elodie Bouchez and Mathias Legoût-Hammond. For their part, Grégory Le Maître, Corinne Dubien and Aymeric Dupas walked away with Best Sound for the same film, courtesy of a professional jury who also handed the Best Editing trophy to Lenka Fillnerova on account of Samira El Mouzghibati’s (Y)Our Mother [+see also:
film review
interview: Samira El Mouzghibati
film profile], and the Best Photography Prize to Nastasja Saerens for Michèle Jacob’s Lost Children [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michèle Jacob
film profile].

The Grand Prize in Directors’ Week, meanwhile, decided upon by a jury composed of Babetida Sadjo, Ann Sirot, Teona Strugar Mitevska and Vincent Lannoo, was awarded to Christian Einshøj for his documentary The Mountains [+see also:
film review
film profile], which is a family and grief-focused film originally discovered in the Visions du Réel Festival, which also nabbed the Audience Award in the same section. Another victorious family and heritage film comes in the form of Je’vida [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Katja Gauriloff, which scooped the Jury Prize. All the films participating in Directors’ Week also came under the scrutiny of the Young European Jury and the FIPRESCI Jury, with the former handing their award to Riverboom, a Swiss documentary by Claude Baechtold, and the latter to The Permanent Picture [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Ferrés
film profile], by Spanish director Laura Ferrés.

The full list of winners is as follows:

International Competition

Grand Prize
Jim’s Story [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu
film profile] - Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu (France)

Jury Prize
Puan [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benjamín Naishtat and María…
film profile] - Benjamin Naishtat (Argentina/Italy/Germany/France/Brazil)

Special Mention
Zar Amir Ebrahimi & Arienne Mando - Tatami [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (USA/Georgia)

National Competition

Grand Prize
Who Cares? [+see also:
film review
interview: Alexe Poukine
film profile]  - Alexe Poukine (Belgium/France/Switzerland)

Jury Prize
For Night Will Come [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Céline Rouzet
film profile] - Céline Rouzet (France/Belgium)

Best Actress
Elodie Bouchez – For Night Will Come

Best Actor
Mathias Legoût-Hammond – For Night Will Come

Technical Jury Prize for Sound
Grégory Le Maître, Corinne Dubien and Aymeric Dupas – For Night Will Come

Technical Jury Prize for Editing
Lenka Fillnerova – (Y)Our Mother [+see also:
film review
interview: Samira El Mouzghibati
film profile] (Belgium/France)

Technical Jury Prize for Photography
Nastasja Saerens – Lost Children [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michèle Jacob
film profile] (Belgium)

Directors’ Week

Grand Prize
The Mountains [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Christian Einshoj (Denmark)

Jury Prize
Je’vida [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Katja Gauriloff (Finland)

Other awards

National Competition Audience Award
Who Cares? - Alexe Poukine

Directors’ Week Audience Award
The Mountains - Christian Einshoj

FIPRESCI Prize
The Permanent Picture [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Ferrés
film profile] - Laura Ferrés (Spain/France)

Young European Jury Prize
Riverboom - Claude Baechtold (Switzerland)

(Translated from French)