02/05/2005 - Opbrud (Lost and Found) by Jacob Grønlykke won EuropaCinema's prize for best film among 11 films in competition, many of them on the topic of death

One could discern in the films in competition at this year’s Viareggio Festival a tendency towards the subject of Death. European filmmakers appear to be asking themselves what place it has in modern society, as Henning Carlsen from Denmark explained on the opening night where he screened his film Springet (The Leaps), the tale of a man suffering from cancer.

But finally humour and tenderness won the day. At the closing ceremony on Sunday night, in the presence of Italian director Mario Monicelli and Norwegian actress Liv Ullman, the jury for the 22rd EuropaCinema festival doubly rewarded the second feature film by Jacob Grønlykke, another Dane in competition. Opbrud (Lost and Found) won the prize for best film as well as Best Actress Award for Birthe Neumann. The principal character, lost and then found, is a man of sixty, a toy seller, brilliantly played by Jens Okking, who is supposed to take a return flight home from Paris on the day of his birthday but decides instead to stay there and treat himself to a long-held dream - a night in Hôtel du Grand Palais, a five-star establishment overlooking the Tuileries. His decision, which ruins the party organised by his family, sets off a series of crises, which brings to the surface family conflicts and misunderstandings. Handled with tenderness and modesty, a series of events both comic and tragic allows each member of the family to take centre stage and reveal their failings. Finally, what is lost and then found in this family is language itself.

The prize for Best Screenplay went to the comedy by the Spanish director, Laura Mañá, Morir en San Hilario, which also received the prize of the general public, while the great Marek Kondrat received the prize as best actor for his role in Trzeci by the Pole Jan Hryniak. Finally, of the three Italians in competition, Contronatura by local Viareggio director Alessandro Tofanelli received a special mention and Il Silenzio dell'Allodola by David Ballerini the Courage Prize, which rewards a film that distinguishes itself by dealing with a difficult subject matter. And indeed the radicalism, sometimes questionable, of this first feature deserved to be noticed.

(Translated from French)