A Poet triumphs at the Geneva International Film Festival
- The festival awarded its Reflet d’Or for Best Feature Film to Simón Mesa Soto’s touching comedy, and the Best Series prize to Requiem For Selina
The Geneva International Film Festival (GIFF) has wrapped after a 31st edition celebrating audiovisual fiction in all its forms. Opening "a new decade with an emphasis on audacity and emotion", this year’s event wrapped in style with a rise in cinema attendance figures for serial productions and immersive programmes, hinting at an ever-growing interest in these particular types of audiovisual productions. Five especially astonishing, courageous and habit-shaking works occupied the highest steps on the podium, one of which was A Poet [+see also:
film review
interview: Simón Mesa Soto
film profile] by Colombian director Simón Mesa Soto, which bagged the Reflet d’Or for Best Feature Film.
Victorious in the Un Certain Regard section, A Poet is a bittersweet comedy following a poet who is desperate for recognition amongst his peers, even though his hour of glory is long gone. Shot on Super 16mm, A Poet skilfully blends humour with pressing questions, notably around social issues affecting Colombia and the place of art and - more specifically - poetry in an increasingly pragmatic and economically greedy world.
Emmeline Berglund’s Norwegian series Requiem For Selina scooped the Reflet d’Or for Best Series, for its stylish depiction of the life of one of the first ever Scandinavian influencers or "pink bloggers". Before social media explodes onto the scene, teenager Selina tries to escape her bullies by writing a secret blog in which she invents a new life for herself, far from the sadness of her everyday reality. With its acerbic humour, its catchy Noughties soundtrack and Elli Müller Osborne’s exceptional performance, the Norwegian series doesn’t do things by halves.
The Reflet d’Or for Best Immersive Experience went to Reflection Of Little Red Dot by US director Chloé Lee, while the second edition of the Swiss Series Storytelling Award was won by The Deal [+see also:
series review
series profile], created by Jean-Stéphane Bron and Alice Winocour.
The number of big names invited to the festival was also particularly impressive this year, featuring Alan Ball, Claes Bang, Eva Crutzen, Benedikt Erlingsson, Sofia Essaïd, Irène jacob, Denis Lavant, Cyril Metzger, Pierre Monnard and Nathalie Nath, not to mention Karen Palmer and the Swiss protagonist of Hallo Betty [+see also:
film review
film profile] Sarah Spale. Overall, the festival’s press release saw it rejoicing in having once again "celebrated a rich wealth of audiovisual creation, whether in the film, series or immersive fields".
The full list of winners is as follows:
Reflet d’Or for Best Feature Film
A Poet [+see also:
film review
interview: Simón Mesa Soto
film profile] – Simón Soto (Colombia/Germany/Sweden)
Reflet d’Or for Best Series
Requiem For Selina – Emmeline Berglund (Norway)
Reflet d’Or for Best Immersive Experience
Reflections Of Little Red Dot - Chloé Lee (USA/Germany)
Future Is Sensible Prize
Ancestors – Steye Hallema (Netherlands) (immersive experience)
Swiss Series Storytelling Award
The Deal [+see also:
series review
series profile] – Jean-Stéphane Bron (Switzerland/France/Belgium)
(Translated from French)
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