The Belfort Entrevues Festival crowns Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes its champion
- The film by Spain’s Gabriel Azorín scoops the Grand Prix, with Bouchra, Loin de moi la colère and Zone grise also dazzling on the winners’ list
Dedicated to young, independent and innovative cinema, the Belfort Entrevues International Film Festival has unveiled the victors of its 40th edition (which ran 17 to 23 November) with a winners’ list spearheaded by Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes [+see also:
film review
interview: Gabriel Azorín
film profile] by Gabriel Azorín, to whom the jury (comprising Alexe Poukine, Félix Kysyl, Dounia Sichov, Alain Della Negra and Bérangère Secco-Cordero) awarded the Janine Bazin Grand Prize. Unveiled in Venice’s Giornate degli Autori line-up, the Spanish filmmaker’s first fiction feature is sold worldwide by the equally Spanish firm MoreThan Film.
The Ciné+ OCS Distribution Support Prize went to Bouchra [+see also:
film review
film profile] by directorial duo Meriem Bennani and Orian Barki, which is their debut animated feature initially discovered in the Toronto Film Festival’s Platform competition and which is a co-production between Italy, Morocco and the United States, sold by French outfit Lucky Number.
The Tënk Award for Best Documentary was won by Joël Akafou’s Far From Anger. Produced by Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and France, and previously triumphant in the Cinéma du Réel Festival, the film takes us to the village of Ziglo, in western Côte d’Ivoire, where many people died in 2011 during the civil war. Having waited too long for state justice, an indigenous woman called Josiane but known as Maman Jo, who has lost several members of her family, decides to take the village’s fate into her own hands by creating a space for women to speak…
The documentary Zone Grise, which is French filmmaker Liza Guillamot’s feature debut (edited by Patric Chiha), scooped the Audience Award. Her chamber piece set in a police academy calls into question the sense of vocation felt by young recruits who have chosen to serve the public.
The post-production support (reserved for first, second and third features) up for grabs as part of the [Films in Progess] initiative went to Cœur secret by French director Tom Fontenille. Produced by Martin Bertier for 5 à 7 Films, this first fiction feature film is set in 2014, when the narrator loses his mother to cancer. The relationship he and his sister have with their father becomes increasingly tense in light of the latter’s silence. With the help of his camera, the protagonist revisits his family’s entanglements and uncovers a highly unexpected secret which changes everything: their father’s cross-dressing…
Equally mention-worthy is this year’s edition of the Entrevues Festival - which was opened by Iraqi director Hasan Hadi’s Golden Camera winner, The President’s Cake – dedicating a retrospective to filmmakers Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu and a Focus to US director Joan Micklin Silver.
The winners were as follows:
Janine Bazin Grand Prize
Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes [+see also:
film review
interview: Gabriel Azorín
film profile] - Gabriel Azorin (Spain/Portugal)
Ciné+ OCS Distribution Support Prize
Bouchra [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Meriem Bennani and Orian Barki (Italy/Morocco/USA)
André S. Labarthe Grand Prize for Best Short Film
Sweetie – Zoé Filloux (France)
Special Mention
Still Playing – Mohamed Mesbah (France)
One+One Award
How To Live Together - Tim Nicholas (United States) (short film)
One+One Mention
Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes - Gabriel Azorin
Tënk Award - Documentaries on the Big Screen
Far From Anger - Joël Akafou (Côte d’Ivoire/Burkina Faso/France)
Audience Award for Best Feature Film
Zone Grise - Liza Guillemot (France)
Audience Award for Best Short Film
Il manque toujours quelque chose (surtout quand on ne sait pas quoi chercher) – Paul Rigoux (France)
Gérald Frot-Coutaz Award
Holy Cow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Louise Courvoisier
film profile] – Louise Courvoisier (France)
[Films in Progress] Post-Production Support Award
Cœur secret - Tom Fontenille (France)
New Talents Winners
Les lueurs - Ana-Maria Cojanu
Après la fête - Océane Coulon
(Translated from French)
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