Led by French filmmaker Thomas Lilti (flanked by actresses India Hair and Alix Poisson, actor Finnegan Oldfield and producer Patrick Sobelman), the competition jury of the 23rd Arras Film Festival has awarded its Golden Atlas – Grand Jury Prize (endowed with 12,000 euros for the film’s French distributor) to Men of Deeds [+leggi anche:
recensione
intervista: Paul Negoescu
scheda film] by Romania’s Paul Negoescu.

This 4^th feature by the filmmaker revolves around a chief of police (played by the brilliant Iulian Postelnicu) in a village in northern Romania where corruption reigns supreme. However, this strange and unusual character, who dreams of another life, doesn’t see any of this corruption, or only sees what he wants to. A series of murders nonetheless opens his eyes to the situation and forces him to take action… Men of Deeds is sold by Germany’s Patra Spanou Film.

The Silver Atlas, for its part, was awarded to Hungary’s Noémi Veronika Szakonyi for Six Weeks [+leggi anche:
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trailer
intervista: Noemi Veronika Szakonyi
scheda film]. Discovered in competition in Sarajevo, this first feature film homes in on Zsofi, a teenage girl who dreams of a career in sport but is pregnant with an unwanted baby which she wants to put up for adoption, despite her mother’s disapproval. Is she making the right decision? According to the law, she has six weeks to change her mind... The film is sold worldwide by NFI World Sales. The movie also curried favour with Arras’ Youth Jury.

Last but not least, the Audience Award (endowed with 5,000 euros for the film’s French distributor) was won by Nowhere [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Peter Monsaert
scheda film] by Belgium’s Peter Monsaert while the critics’ jury singled out Il Boemo [+leggi anche:
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trailer
intervista: Petr Vaclav
scheda film], by Czech director Petr Václav, as their champion.

The full list of winners is as follows:

Golden Atlas - Grand Jury Prize
Men of Deeds [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Paul Negoescu
scheda film] - Paul Negoescu (Romania/Bulgaria)

Silver Atlas
Six Weeks [+leggi anche:
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trailer
intervista: Noemi Veronika Szakonyi
scheda film] - Noémi Veronika Szakonyi (Hungary)

Audience Award
Nowhere [+leggi anche:
recensione
intervista: Peter Monsaert
scheda film] - Peter Monsaert (Belgium)

SFCC Critics’ Award
Il Boemo [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Petr Vaclav
scheda film] - Petr Václav (Czech Republic/Italy/Slovakia)

Hauts-de-France Region Youth Prize
Six Weeks - Noémi Veronika Szakonyi (Hungary)