Elena Martín Gimeno is celebrating a special recognition…
The Spanish director’s film Creatura won the Europa Cinemas prize as Best European Film at Directors’ Fortnight on Thursday.
The prize was announced ahead of the evening closing ceremony for the non-competitive parallel Directors Fortnight section.
The Europa Cinema is one of the key collateral prizes awarded to films world premiering in the section.
Under the Europa Cinema prize, the release of Creatura will receive the support of cinemas belonging to the independent exhibitor network representing 3,060 screens in 38 countries.
The jury consists of four exhibitor members of the network.
Creatura centers on a seemingly perfect couple who no longer manage to have sex, prompting one partner to probe her past and her sexual awakening, from adolescence back to early childhood.
Directors Fortnights’ final day hosted a special event with Quentin Tarantino and closes with Hong Sangsoo’s In Our Day, in the presence of the Korean director.
“Elena Martin Gimeno’s Creatura is a really well-written and impressive portrayal of a woman as she tries to come to terms with her sexuality and intimacy while reflecting on her childhood and teenage experiences. This is a subject that has been covered before, but each character is so multi-layered and believable that the film is easy to relate to – both the female and the male characters,” the Europa Cinema Jury said in a statement.
“There are challenging moments but there is humor too. It is dynamic and beautifully shot. We are sure that this is a film that will touch people all around Europe, and we welcome the opportunity of encouraging the career of a very talented director, writer and actress.”
The cast includes Gimeno (Mila), Clàudia Dalmau (Mila), Clàudia Borràs (Mila), Oriol Pla (Marcel), Alex Brendemühl (Gerard), Clara Segura (Diana), Marc Cartanyà (Gerard) and Carla Linares (Diana).
Elena Martín is an actress, screenwriter and director from Barcelona. Her debut as a director for which she also took the leading role, Júlia ist, was praised by the festival circuit. As an actress, she starred in Watermelon Juice, Facing the Wind or Agatha’s Friends. On TV for HBO, she was in the writer’s room of Veneno, directed two episodes of Perfect Life and created an episode of En casa.
The Cannes Europa Cinemas Label Jury this year comprised Laurent Callonnec (Cinéma l’Ecran, Saint-Denis, France), Sofie Mercier (Sphinx Cinema, Ghent, Belgium), Viviane Thill (Ciné Starlight, Dudelange, Luxembourg) and Justė Vyšniauskaitė (Kaunas cinema centre Romuva, Kaunas, Lithuania).
