Dedicated to young and innovative independent cinema, the Belfort Entrevues Film Festival has delivered the verdict on its 39th edition (which unspooled 18 – 24 November) with a winners’ list dominated by Softshell, US director Jinho Myung’s debut feature film, to which the jury (composed of Céleste Brunnquell, Nicolas Peduzzi, Amrita David, Pierric Bailly and Marine Riou) awarded its Janine Bazin Grand Prize.

The main jury also rewarded another first feature film by way of a special mention for Trans Memoria [+lee también:
crítica
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entrevista: Victoria Verseau
ficha de la película] by Sweden’s Victoria Verseau (discovered in Karlovy Vary’s Proxima competition), which also scooped the One+One Prize (for movies whose musical and sound universes are remarkable, free and innovative).

The Audience Award and trophy for Best Documentary went to Farah Kassem’s Qatari-Danish-Lebanese production We Are Inside [+lee también:
crítica
ficha de la película], which is continuing to add to its collection of prizes following a Special Mention in the Visions du Réel Festival and victories in El Gouna and Erevan.

The post-production aid award in the 16th edition of the [Films in Progress] section was handed to La muerte te vio volver by Chile’s Sebastián Cuevas Barría. Produced by Chilean firm Praxia Producciones and French outfit Vert & Bleu Productions, the film revolves around Silvia who returns to her birth village on Chiloé Island in Chile following a thirty-year absence to discuss with her sister and dying mother the inheritance the latter wishes to leave them. It’s a trip which catapults them back into the past and helps them to heal old wounds.

It’s also worth noting, among other events, that this year’s Entrevues Festival dedicated a retrospective to Robert Guédiguian, paid tribute to the late Laurent Achard and devoted a Focus session to Lithuanian filmmaker Arunas Žebriūnas.

The full list of winners is as follows:

Janine Bazin Grand Prize
Softshell - Jinho Myung (USA)

Feature Film Special Mention
Trans Memoria [+lee también:
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entrevista: Victoria Verseau
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André S. Labarthe Grand Prize for Best Short Film
L’avance – Djiby Kebe (France)

Other awards

Audience Award for Best Feature Film
We Are Inside [+lee también:
crítica
ficha de la película] – Farah Kassem (Lebanon/Qatar/Denmark)

Audience Award for Best Short
Fatmé – Diala Al Hindaoui (France)

Ciné+ OCS Distribution Aid Award
Invention – Courtney Stephens (USA)

One+One Prize
Trans Memoria - Victoria Verseau

Tënk Prize/ Documentary on the Big Screen
We Are Inside – Farah Kassem

Gérald Frot-Coutaz Prize
Camping du lac [+lee también:
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entrevista: Éléonore Saintagnan
ficha de la película] – Eléonore Saintagnan (France)

[Films in Progress] Post-Production Aid Award
La muerte te vio volver - Sebastián Cuevas Barría (Chile/France)

New Talents Winners
Irina Bert
Bruno Coulon