Saulė Bliuvaitė’s Toxic [+lee también:
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entrevista: Directors Talks @ European…
entrevista: Saulė Bliuvaitė
ficha de la película] has won the Trieste Prize for Best Feature Film in the 36th Trieste Film Festival. Having also previously scooped the Leopard for Best First Feature at the Locarno Film Festival, the Lithuanian director’s movie paints the candid portrait of two girls from the suburbs who fall victim to toxic beauty standards. Endowed with €5,000, the Trieste Prize was awarded by a jury composed of Sabine Gebetsroither, Ilinca Manolache and Paolo Moretti, with the following reasoning: “This is an authentic and raw debut about the transition to adulthood: an incisive, authentic and uncompromising teenage story which explores the search for self-esteem and a friendship between two girls who are both lost in some way and neglected by their families. It’s not sparkly friendship bracelets that the director offers up but fragile, hard-won affection. This prize is going to a new and powerful voice in European film”.

The jury also awarded a Special Mention to Hungarian director Bálint Szimler’s Lesson Learned [+lee también:
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entrevista: Bálint Szimler
ficha de la película] for the following reasons: “The director, whom we wish to celebrate, offers up a school as a microcosm of a wider society — that of modern-day Hungary — laying bear its predominant values and political tendencies. The authenticity of the situations unfolding in classes and the dynamics between students, teachers and parents makes the injustices depicted even clearer and the social commentary even more pressing”.  Szimler’s movie also bagged the Cineuropa Award: “A sophisticated first film whose microcosm counterbalances the angst inherent to the particular themes explored with the serenity and sense of humour permitted by the movie’s form, helping it to overcome financial and political production difficulties”.

The awards ceremony for this 36th edition of the Trieste Film Festival, dedicated to films from Central and Eastern Europe, also saw the Alpe Adria Cinema Prize for Best Documentary in Competition (endowed with €2,500) handed to Tata [+lee también:
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entrevista: Lina Vdovîi y Radu Ciornic…
ficha de la película] by Romanian directors Lina Vdovîi and Radu Ciorniciuc. The jury composed of Chiara Liberti, Simon Popek and Annina Wettstein partly explained their decision as follows: “[…] This portrait of a violent father and husband, involving three generations of women who find their own strategies for resilience, impressed us for its intelligence, honesty and confidence, which can be said of both the cinematography itself and the film’s layered approach”. The documentary also won the Alpe Adria Cinema Prize offered by Opificio Neirami.

The victorious short films walking away with trophies this year are Night of Passage by Reza Rasouli (Austria), Left-Handed Pen by Adas Burkšaitis (Lithuania) and On the Way by Samir Karahoda (Kosovo).  The winners of the three competitions judged by the audience, meanwhile, are Three Kilometres to the End of the World [+lee también:
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entrevista: Emanuel Pârvu
ficha de la película] by Emanuel Pârvu in the feature films category, Tata in documentaries, and Cannes’ Palme d’Or winner The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent by Nebojša Slijepčević heading up the short films section.

The Trieste Film Festival in Tour project will also be returning this year, providing Italian cinemas with a selection of titles which best represent this 36th edition. Promotion and distribution firm Lo Scrittoio, who are managing the selection and circulation of these works, has announced the first titles as Greek movie Meat [+lee también:
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entrevista: Dimitris Nakos
ficha de la película] by Dimitris Nakos and Polish film Under the Volcano [+lee también:
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entrevista: Damian Kocur
ficha de la película] by Damian Kocur.

The full list of prize-winners is as follows:

Feature Film Competition

Trieste Prize for Best Feature Film
Toxic [+lee también:
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entrevista: Directors Talks @ European…
entrevista: Saulė Bliuvaitė
ficha de la película] - Saulė Bliuvaitė (Lithuania)

Special Mention
Lesson Learned [+lee también:
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entrevista: Bálint Szimler
ficha de la película] - Bálint Szimler (Hungary)

Documentary Competition

Alpe Adria Cinema Prize - Opificio Neirami
Tata [+lee también:
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entrevista: Lina Vdovîi y Radu Ciornic…
ficha de la película] - Lina Vdovîi, Radu Ciorniciuc (Romania/Germany/Netherlands)

Short Films Competition

TSFF Shorts Prize - Osiride Brovedani Foundation
Night of Passage - Reza Rasouli (Austria)

Special Mention
Left-Handed Pen - Adas Burkšaitis (Lithuania)
On the Way - Samir Karahoda (Kosovo)

Other awards

Cineuropa Award
Lesson Learned - Bálint Szimler

Audience Award for Best Feature Film
Three Kilometres to the End of the World [+lee también:
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entrevista: Emanuel Pârvu
ficha de la película] - Emanuel Pârvu (Romania)

Audience Award for Best Documentary
Tata - Lina Vdovîi, Radu Ciorniciuc

Audience Award for Best Short Film
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent - Nebojša Slijepčević (Croatia/Bulgaria/France/Slovenia)

CEI (Central European Initiative) Prize
Under the Volcano [+lee también:
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entrevista: Damian Kocur
ficha de la película] - Damian Kocur (Poland)

2024 Corso Salani Prize
Il canto di Alina - Ilaria Braccialini, Federica Oriente (Italy)

Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa Prize for Best Documentary in Competition
The Sky Above Zenica [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] - Nanna Frank Møller, Zlatko Pranjić (Bosnia-Herzegovina/Denmark)
Special Mention
Actress Lida Olsansky - Charlotte, One of Us (Switzerland/Italy)

Municipality of Trieste ‘PAG’ Youth Jury Prize for Best Short Film
Majonezë – Giulia Grandinetti (Italy)

2024 Eastern Star Prize
Sergei Loznitsa

SNCCI (Union of National Film Critics) Critics’ Prize for Best Film
The Zone of Interest [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] - Jonathan Glazer (UK/Poland/USA)

SNCCI Italian Critics’ Prize for Best Film
Vermiglio [+lee también:
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entrevista: Maura Delpero
ficha de la película] - Maura Delpero (Italy/France/Belgium)