On Sunday 14 June, the 12th edition of FILMADRID, a week dedicated to cutting-edge independent and arthouse cinema held in the Spanish capital, came to a close with the prize-giving gala. The festival’s artistic co-director, Nuria Cubas, hosted the special ceremony at the Cine Doré (Filmoteca Española). For the second time in the event’s history, the closing slot was entrusted to a Vanguardias Live performance: to mark the 50th anniversary of Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese’s classic was screened while composer Jon Aguirrezabalaga, known as Zabala, performed a live score.

Earlier, the international jury of the Official Selection - made up of curator and cultural manager Ane Rodríguez Armendáriz, programmer Mercedes Martínez-Abarca, a member of IFFR’s selection committee, and Elise Jalladeau, the current director of the Thessaloniki Film Festival - decided to award the FILMADRID Grand Prix for Best Film in the Official Selection to Why Hasn’t Everything Disappeared Yet, written, edited and directed by young Bulgarian-German helmer Stefan Koutzev.

The jury singled out this debut feature – which had already screened in IFFR’s Bright Future section – for being “a film that, through an observational and poetic approach, opens up a space for reflection on contemporary anxieties around belonging in a present marked by constant challenges”. Upon receiving the trophy, Koutzev said, “Patience is systematically disappearing in our world, and that is what my film reflects,” also thanking Juho Lee, the lead actor and the film’s inspiration, as well as his team.

The movie focuses on two young siblings from Bulgaria who realise they are alone on the wrong bus, bound for Cologne. One of them, Sori, has been drifting from job to job after dropping out of university, hiding the truth from his family in Seoul. Completely on his own in Germany, he finds solace in his drawings as he traverses a fleeting urban life that only mimics belonging but never truly satisfies that need. As memories of his military service on the North Korean border return with increasing severity, the final days of a languid summer take over the narrative.

Additionally, the jury awarded a Special Mention to Drinking and Driving, the debut feature by Canadian filmmakers Avalon Fast and Jillian Frank. The Audience Award, bestowed upon the movie that garnered the highest score from viewers’ votes, went to ░CUANDO░MUERES░TE░CONVIERTES░EN░UN░SITIO░PUSSY░IN░BIO░, the latest work by unclassifiable artist Julián Génisson (Inmotep, Ayudar al ojo humano, Esa sensación). 

Finally, the Young Jury plumped for BROOM BROOM FOLLAR as its winning film, a short by Galician filmmaker SOHU, because “it has always been said that the future is an uncertain place, perhaps today more than ever. The values that have sustained our society are wavering. We no longer believe in God; we can no longer believe in democracy. Can we still believe in cinema? Perhaps yes, in a cinema of the present, clinging to what we still have amid a constant corrosion of images: love, our friends, play and humour, the night and a motorbike…”

Here is the full list of award winners:

FILMADRID Grand Prix for Best Film
Why Hasn’t Everything Disappeared Yet - Stefan Koutzev (Germany)

Special Mention
Drinking and Driving - Avalon Fast, Jillian Frank (Canada)

Other awards

Audience Award
░CUANDO░MUERES░TE░CONVIERTES░EN░UN░SITIO░PUSSY░IN░BIO░ - Julián Génisson (Spain)

Young Jury Award
BROOM BROOM FOLLAR – SOHU (Spain, short film)