30/06/2025 - The 8th Brussels International Film Festival has wrapped with the unveiling of its winners’ list, on which Diego Céspedes and Alexe Poukine’s movies reign supreme

The 8th edition of the Brussels International Film Festival (BRIFF) has wrapped with the crowning of two films previously acclaimed in the Cannes Film Festival back in May. The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo [+see also:
film review
interview: Diego Céspedes
film profile] by Chile’s Diego Céspedes walked away with the Grand Prize in the International Competition, whose jury comprised Selma Alaoui, Evgenia Alexandrova, Claire Burger and Bérangère McNeese. This modern western discovered within Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section, which takes its own approach to looking back on the early days of the AIDS epidemic in a mining town in the depths of Chile, also scooped the FIPRESCI Prize courtesy of the international press. The jury also chose to award its Jury Prize to Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Trier
film profile], which previously nabbed Cannes’ Grand Prize, and a Special Mention to Guillermo Galoe’s Spanish movie Sleepless City [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guillermo Galoe
film profile], which was itself discovered in Critics’ Week.

Another film showcased in Cannes’ Critics’ Week walked away with the Grand Prize in the National Competition. Kika [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alexe Poukine
film profile] by Alexe Poukine, which has just been released in Belgium, also won the Best Actress Prize thanks to Manon Clavel’s memorable performance. It’s actually the second consecutive year that Alexe Poukine has won this competition, following the prize she took home last year for her documentary Who Cares? [+see also:
film review
interview: Alexe Poukine
film profile], which has just been released in French cinemas. Kika is a genre-free film full of tears and laughter, depicting a young mother who’s faced with unorthodox options to overcome her grief and make ends meet. Another film which dazzled in this competition was Petit rempart [+see also:
film review
interview: Eve Duchemin
film profile], which paints a powerful portrait of a weakened but self-willed woman and which won Ève Duchemin both the Jury Prize and the Audience Award. In this same competition, Best Actor went to the astonishing duo composed of Benjamin Lambillotte and Pierre Bastin for their performance in Vitrival – The Most Beautiful Village in the World [+see also:
film review
interview: Noëlle Bastin, Baptiste Bog…
film profile] by Noëlle Bastin and Baptiste Bogaert.

In the Brussels-based festival’s third and final competition, Directors’ Week, Valentine Cadic’s French film That Summer in Paris [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Valentine Cadic
film profile] bagged the Grand Prize, while the Jury Prize awarded by Salomé Dewaels, Anna Jadowska, Laurent Micheli and Jean-Gabriel Périot went to Yegor Troyanosky’s Ukrainian movie Cuba & Alaska, which also nabbed the Audience Award.

Last but not least, Giovanni Tortorici’s Italian title Nineteen [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] earned itself the European Youth Jury trophy, while Eva Libertad’s Spanish movie Deaf [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eva Libertad
film profile] claimed both the BeTV and RTBF prizes.

The winners are as follows:

International Competition

Grand Prize
The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo [+see also:
film review
interview: Diego Céspedes
film profile] - Diego Céspedes (France/Germany/Spain/Chile/Belgium)

Jury Prize
Sentimental Value [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Trier
film profile] - Joachim Trier (Norway/France/Denmark/Germany)

Special Mention
Sleepless City [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guillermo Galoe
film profile] - Guillermo Galoe (Spain/France)

National Competition

Grand Prize
Kika [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alexe Poukine
film profile] - Alexe Poukine (Belgium/France)

Jury Prize
Petit rempart [+see also:
film review
interview: Eve Duchemin
film profile] - Ève Duchemin (Belgium)

Best Actress
Manon Clavel - Kika

Best Actor
Benjamin Lambillotte and Pierre Bastin - Vitrival [+see also:
film review
interview: Noëlle Bastin, Baptiste Bog…
film profile] (Belgium)

Directors’ Week

Grand Prize
That Summer in Paris [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Valentine Cadic
film profile] - Valentine Cadic (France)

Jury Prize
Cuba & Alaska - Yegor Troyanosky (Ukraine/France/Belgium)

Other awards

FIPRESCI Prize
The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo - Diego Céspedes

European Youth Jury Prize
Nineteen [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Giovanni Tortorici (Italy/UK)

National Competition Audience Award
Petit rempart - Ève Duchemin

International Competition and Directors’ Week Audience Award
Cuba & Alaska - Yegor Troyanosky

BeTV Prize
Deaf [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eva Libertad
film profile] - Eva Libertad (Spain)

RTBF Prize
Deaf - Eva Libertad

(Translated from French)