Tag Archives: FIPRESCI Prize

Tatiana Huezo’s “Prayers for the Stolen” Wins FIPRESCI Prize at the Palm Springs Film Festival

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Tatiana Huezo’s prayers are being celebrated…

The 50-year-old Mexican Salvadoran filmmaker’s Prayers for the Stolen has won the FIPRESCI Prize for Best International Feature Film at the Palm Springs Film Festival, which revealed its juried winners this week despite being forced to cancel its 2022 edition.

Tatiana HuezoHuezo’s film, which has made this year’s Oscars short list for the Best International Feature Film category. was released by Netflix in theaters and on the streaming platform in November.

It centers on three young girls in a mountain town who take over the houses of those who have fled, dress up as women when no one is watching, and have a hiding place as their mothers train them to flee from those who turn them into slaves or ghosts. Until one day, when one of the girls doesn’t make it to her hideout in time.

The jury awarded it the top prize “for a miraculously vivid portrayal of girlhood under siege told with visual exuberance and powerful intimacy from the ensemble cast.”

The film also took the festival’s Ibero-American Award, the top prize in its Ibero-American sidebar devoted to the best films from Latin America, Spain or Portugal.

Special mentions in the Ibero-American sidebar were given to Anita Rocha da Silveira’s Medusa and Víctor Escribano’s 7 Lives, 7 Lakes.

The Palm Springs Film Festival, which had been scheduled to run January 6-17 before being scrapped amid the latest COVID surge, is considered a must-stop for International Feature Oscar contenders, with 36 of the 93 official submissions this year slated for the lineup.

Here’s the full list of winners:

FIPRESCI Prize: Best International Feature Film

Prayers For the Stolen (Mexico)
Directed by Tatiana Huezo

FIPRESCI Prize: Best Actor in an International Feature Film

Amir Jadidi
A Hero (Iran)

FIPRESCI Prize: Best Actress in an International Feature Film

Agathe Rousselle
Titane (France/Belgium)

FIPRESCI Prize: International Screenplay

A Hero (Iran)
Screenplay by Asghar Farhadi

Best Documentary Award

Flee (Denmark)
Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen

Special Mention
The Caviar Connection (France)
Directed by Benoît Bringer

New Voices/New Visions Award

Happening (France)
Directed by Audrey Diwan

Special Mention
Wildhood (Canada/Germany)
Directed by Bretten Hannam

Ibero-American Award

Prayers For the Stolen (Mexico)
Directed by Tatiana Huezo

Special Mentions
Medusa (Brazil/USA)
Directed by Anita Rocha da Silveira

7 Lives, 7 Lakes (Spain)
Directed by Víctor Escribano

Local Jury Award

Escape from Mogadishu (South Korea)
Directed by Ryoo Seung-wan.

Special Mention
Mission: Joy – Finding Happiness in Troubled Times (USA)
Directed by Louie Psihoyos, Peggy Callahan

MOZAIK Bridging the Borders Award

A Hero (Iran)
Director Asghar Farhadi

Special Mentions
Fear (Bulgaria)
Directed by Ivaylo Hristov

Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America (USA)
Directed by Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler

Young Cineastes Award

Yuni (Indonesia)
Directed by Kamila Andini

Special Mention
Any Day Now (Finland)
Directed by Hamy Ramezan 

“A Febre” Star Regis Myrupu Wins Best Actor Prize at Locarno Film Festival in Acting Debut

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Regis Myrupu is making a memorable debut…

The Brazilian actor was named Best Actor at this year’s Locarno Film Festival for his beautifully understated performance as a security guard at Manaus Harbor in Brazilian filmmaker Maya Da-Rin’s The Fever.

A Febre Maya Da-Rin

“I never thought this would happen,” said Myrupu of his win for his performance in the film, which earned Da-Rin the FIPRESCI Prize.

Carlos Lenintook home the Peace Hotel Award for his film La Paloma y El Lobo. The 36-year-old Mexican filmmaker’s earned the award for his “future promise in world cinema.”

The international jury was headed by French filmmaker and novelist Catherine Breillat.

TheGolden Leopard, the Locarno Film Festival’s top honor, went to Portuguese directorPedro Costa, for his latest feature Vitalina Varela, which had its world premiere in the Swiss festival’s international competition.

The 2020 Locarno Film Festival will be from August 5-15.

This year’s winners are below:

International competition

Golden Leopard: Vitalina Varela by Pedro Costa, Portugal
Special Jury Prize: Pa-Go (Height Of The Wave) by Park Jung-Bum, South Korea
Leopard For Best Direction: Damien Manivel for Les Enfants D’isadora, France/South Korea
Leopard For Best Actress: Vitalina Varela for Vitalina Varela by Pedro Costa, Portugal
Leopard For Best Actor: Regis Myrupu for A Febre by Maya Da-Rin, Brazil/France/Germany
Special Mentions: Hiruk-Pikuk Si Al-Kisah (The Science Of Fictions) by Yosep Anggi Noen, Indonesia/Malaysia/France, Maternal by Maura Delpero, Italy/Argentina

Filmmakers Of The Present Competition

Cineasti Del Presente Golden Leopard: Baamum Nafi (Nafi’s Father) by Mamadou Dia, Senegal
Best Emerging Director Award: 143 Rue Du Désert by Hassen Ferhani, Algeria/France/Qatar
Special Jury Prize: Ivana Cea Groaznica (Ivana The Terrible) by Ivana Mladenović, Romania/Serbia
Special Mention: Here For Life by Andrea Luka Zimmerman, Adrian Jackson, United Kingdom

Moving Ahead

Moving Ahead Award: The Giverny Document (Single Channel) by Ja’tovia M. Gary, Usa/France
Special Mentions: Those That, At A Distance, Resemble Another by Jessica Sarah Rinland, United Kingdom/Argentina/Spain, Shān Zhī Běi (Osmosis) by Zhou Tao.

First Feature

First Feature Award: Baamum Nafi (Nafi’s Father) by Mamadou Dia, Senegal
Peace Hotel Award: La Paloma Y El Lobo (The Dove And The Wolf) by Carlos Lenin, Mexico
Special Mentions: Instinct by Halina Reijn, Netherlands, Fi Al-Thawra (During Revolution) by Maya Khoury, Syria/Sweden

Leopards Of Tomorrow – International Competition

Pardino D’oro For The Best International Short Film: Siyah Güneş (Black Sun) by Arda Çiltepe, Turkey/Germany (Locarno Short Film Nominee For The European Film Awards 2019)
Pardino D’argento: Umbilical by Danski Tang, Usa
Pardi Di Domani Best Direction Prize: Otpusk (Leave Of Absence) by Anton Sazonov, Russia
Premio Medien Patent Verwaltung Ag Prize: White Afro by Akosua Adoma Owusu, Ghana/USA

Leopards Of Tomorrow – National Competition

Pardino D’oro For The Best Swiss Short Film: Mama Rosa by Dejan Barac, Switzerland
Pardino D’argento Swiss Life: Tempête Silencieuse by Anaïs Moog, Switzerland
Best Swiss Newcomer Prize: Terminal by Kim Allamand, Switzerland
Piazza Grande Award: Instinct by Halina Reijn, Netherlands

Other awards

Ecumenical Jury Prize: Maternal by Maura Delpero, Italy/Argenti
Special Mention: Vitalina Varela by Pedro Costa, Portugal
FIPRESCI Prize: A Febre by Maya Da-Rin, Brazil/France/Germany
Europa Cinemas Label: Maternal by Maura Delpero, Italy/Argentina

Garcia Bernal Picks Up FIPRESCI Prize at the Palm Springs International Film Festival

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Gael Garcia Bernal is a diamond in the desert…

The 38-year-old Mexican actor picked up the FIPRESCI Prize for best actor at the 27th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival for his performance in Pablo Larrain’s Neruda.

Gael Garcia Bernal

Garcia Bernal portrays Oscar Peluchonneau, the fascist Chief of the Policía de Investigaciones, in the film about poet and Communist Senator Pablo Neruda.

Neruda, which was selected as the Chilean entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards, also picked up the fest’s Cine Latino Award.

The John Schlesinger Award, presented to a director of a first or second feature documentary, was awarded to Cristina Herrera Borquez for No Dress Code Required, which looks at a same-sex couple as they fight for the right to marry in their hometown of Mexicali, Baja California.

The fest, which ran through January 16, announced its juried award winners at a luncheon Saturday at the Hilton Palm Springs.

Here’s the complete list of winners:

FIPRESCI Prize for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Toni Erdmann (Germany), directed by Maren Ade

FIPRESCI Prize for the Best Actor in a Foreign Language Film
Gael García Bernal in Neruda (Chile)

FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actress in a Foreign Language Film
Isabelle Huppert in Elle(France)

New Voices/New Visions Award
Winner: White Sun (Nepal/U.S./Qatar/Netherlands), directed by Deepak Runiyar
Special Mentions: Kati Kati (Kenya/Germany), directed by Mbithi Masya and Mellow Mud (Latvia), directed by Renārs Vimba

The John Schlesinger Award
Winner: No Dress Code Required (Mexico), directed by Cristina Herrera Bórquez
Special Mention: Beauties of the Night (Mexico), directed by Maria José Cuevas 

Cine Latino Award
Winner: Neruda (Chile), directed by Pablo Larraín
Special Mention: Everything Else (Mexico), directed by Natalia Alamda

HP Bridging the Borders Award
Winner: Mercenary (France), directed by Sacha Wolff

Hayek’s “The Prophet” to Have Its Middle East Premiere at the Ajyal Film Festival

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Salma Hayek is bringing her latest behind-the-scenes project to the Middle East.

The Doha Film Institute has revealed its lineup for the 2nd annual Ajyal Film Festival. The fest, which takes place December 1-6, will host 90 films from 43 countries including the Middle East premiere of Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet, produced by the 48-year-old Mexican actress and directed by Roger Allers.

Salma Hayek

The animated film, based on the Lebanese writer’s iconic long-form meditative poem, features the voices of Liam Neeson, John Krasinski and Hayek.  DFI co-financed and co-produced the film, which will close the festival. Hayek will attend the premiere.

Festival director and acting DFI chief exec Fatma Al-Remaihi has also placed a firm emphasis on local filmmaking talent with a Made In Qatar section that boasts 20 short films by Qatari filmmakers.

“This year, we were overwhelmed by the number of submissions by professionals and aspiring filmmakers. We are also delighted that we have been able to support their ambitions through our filmmaking challenges and look forward to sharing the results of these initiatives through the Made in Qatar programs,” said Al-Remaihi.

“The thematic diversity and quality of projects in the Made in Qatar section is a testament to the growth and vibrancy within the creative community of our nation.”

Also confirmed to attend is Jordanian director Naji Abu Nowar to present Theeb, which also received financing from DFI.  The film, a coming-of-age story of a Bedouin boy who embarks on a perilous journey across the desert as the Ottoman Empire crumbles, has already won the Orrizonti Award for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival this year; as well as best Arab Film and the FIPRESCI Prize for best narrative feature at the recent Abu Dhabi Film Festival.

Bejo Earns Best Actress Honors at the Palm Springs International Film Festival

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Bérénice Bejo is being heralded for her Past achievements…

The 37-year-old Argentine actress won a best actress award at the 25th Palm Springs International Film Festival for her critically acclaimed role in the French/Iranian family drama The Past.

Berenice Bejo

Bejo received the FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actress of the Year in a Foreign Language Film on Saturday during the closing ceremony of the festival.

“Bérénice Bejo’s portrait of a woman in profound transition, struggling to close the door on one relationship, trying to keep the other open, offers a symphony of emotions: regret, longing, love, hurt, need,” festival juror Steven Rea said at the ceremony.

“Her character may waver, but Bejo’s performance stays straight and true,” he added.

The French-language film was directed by Oscar-winning Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi.

It’s the latest award for the Oscar-nominated actress’ performance in the past.

She won the Best Actress award at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

Bejo is also nominated for Most Promising Actress from the Magritte Awards, which are given annually for excellence of Belgian francophone cinematic achievements.