28/10/2024 - The French filmmaker is also rewarded for his work as a screenwriter, while the Spanish films They Will Be Dust, The Rim and Salve María also receive awards

Alain Guiraudie has seduced the international jury of the 69th edition of the Seminci - Valladolid International Film Week –made up of Greek director Sofia Exarchou, Spanish actress Aida Folch, critic and editor Devika Girish, German producer Ingmar Trost and Murcian director and writer Luis López Carrasco- with his latest film, Misericordia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alain Guiraudie
film profile], a co-production between France, Spain and Portugal, which also won the Miguel Delibes award for Best Script.

The verdict, revealed last Saturday, highlighted the intelligence of this film, as well as the fact that “its lightness conceals a complex balance of genres and tones, under whose appearance of provincial thriller-comedy hides a profound meditation on how desire and guilt make us predictable and incomprehensible to each other”. It is worth remembering that this French filmmaker was also triumphant at the 10th edition of Seville Film Festival, then directed by José Luis Cienfuegos, the current head of the Seminci, with Stranger by the Lake [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alain Guiraudie
film profile].

The jury has also decided to award the Silver Spike to two titles: the musical They Will Be Dust [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carlos Marqués-Marcet
film profile], by Spanish director Carlos Marques-Marcet, because, according to the jury, “it tackles with sensitivity and even joy the confrontation between mortality and the life of a family, where maximalism is balanced with subtlety and authenticity, thanks to the extraordinary performances of true legends of cinema,” and Stranger Eyes [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by the Singaporean Yeo Siew Hua.

The award for Best Director went to Chinese director Guan Hu, for Black Dog, the big winner of Un Certain Regard last May in Cannes. The award for Best Cinematography went to Weizhe Gao for the same film.

The award-winning performers share, in terms of the characters they play, the questioning of traditional male and female roles. For a “fierce authenticity embodying the multiple contradictions of one of society's most complex figures - a reluctant and troubled mother - using empathy and a defiant commitment to nuance,” Laura Weissmahr, the protagonist of Mar Coll's Salve María [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mar Coll
film profile], won the award for Best Actress. And the Best Actor award is shared by the stars of Dan Johan Haugerud's Norwegian film Sex [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dag Johan Haugerud
film profile], Jan Gunnar Roise and Thorbjorn Harr, for their “two roles that gently challenge and expand the contours of masculinity on screen”. The main actors in They Will Be Dust, Ángela Molina and Alfredo Castro, also receive a special mention, with the jury stating their admiration for their work and confirming the place of these brilliant performers on the world stage.

For defending editing as a central creative principle in film, Telmo Churro and Pedro Filipe Marques have been recognised with the award for Best Editing in Grand Tour [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marta Donzelli, Gregorio Pa…
interview: Miguel Gomes
film profile], by Portuguese director Miguel Gomes. “Editing becomes a tightrope where past and present, fiction and documentary, East and West delicately balance each other”, said the jury.

In the most daring section of the festival, the Alchemies section, the jury, made up of Brazilian filmmaker Gabe Klinger, Spanish writer, screenwriter and director Álex Mendíbil and German artist and filmmaker Helena Wittmann, has awarded The Rim [+see also:
film review
film profile], by the Galician Alberto Gracia, “for blindly and freely guiding us through closed and uncomfortable places through two characters who choose not to respond”. While for the “rigorous aesthetic proposal that through subtle gestures trusts the audience and opens up to human and artistic contact”, Bluish [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], by Milena Czernovsky and Lilith Kraxner, has received a special mention.

Finally, the Meeting Point jury (filmmaker Bridgett M. Davis, Brazilian director and screenwriter Sérgio Tréfaut, and Spanish actress and musician Julia de Castro) has awarded the top prize in this section to Holy Cow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Louise Courvoisier
film profile], by French director Louise Courvoisier; and the Time of History jury (researchers Tomasz Poborca and Domingo Sánchez-Mesa and artist Nina Danino) has decided to award it to the documentary by the Chinese director Wang Bing Youth (Hard Times) [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile].

The complete list of awards:

Feature Film Competition

Golden Spike
Misericordia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alain Guiraudie
film profile] – Alain Guiraudie (Spain/France/Portugal)

Silver Spike
They Will Be Dust [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carlos Marqués-Marcet
film profile] - Carlos Marques-Marcet (Spain/Switzerland/Italy)
Stranger Eyes [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Yeo Siew Hua (Singapore/Taiwan/France/USA)

Ribera de Duero Best Director Award
Guan Hu - Black Dog (China)

Best Actor Award
Jan Gunnar Roise and Thorbjorn Harr – Sex [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dag Johan Haugerud
film profile] (Norway)

Best Actress Award
María Laura Weissmahr – Salve María [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mar Coll
film profile] (Spain)

Special Mention
Ángela Molina and Alfredo Castro – They Will Be Dust

Miguel Delibes Award for Best Script
Alain Guiraudie - Misericordia

Best Cinematography
Weizhe Gao – Black Dog

José Salcedo Award for Best Editing
Telmo Churro and Pedro Filipe Marques - Grand Tour [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marta Donzelli, Gregorio Pa…
interview: Miguel Gomes
film profile] (Portugal/Italy/France/Germany/Japan/China)

Short Film Competition

Golden Spike for Best Short Film
Baldilocks – Marthe Peters (Belgium)

Silver Spike
Punter – Jason Adam Maselle (USA/South Africa)
Lluna de Sal – Mariona Martínez (Spain)

Best European Short Film
O – Rúnar Rúnarson (Iceland/Sweden)

“The Night of the Spanish Short Film” Award
El príncep – Álex Sardá
Special Mention
De sucre – Clàudia Cedó

Short Film from Castile & Leon Award
Sólo los muertos se quedan – Alejandro Renedo

Alchemies

Grand Prize
The Rim [+see also:
film review
film profile] – Alberto Gracia (Spain)

Special Mention
Bluish [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Milena Czernousky and Lilith Kraxner (Austria)

Meeting Point

Meeting Point Award
Holy Cow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Louise Courvoisier
film profile] – Louise Courvoisier (France)

“Fundos” Award
Familiar Touch – Sarah Friedland (USA)

Time of History

Time of History Grand Prize
Youth (Hard Times) [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Wang Bing (France/Luxembourg/Netherlands)

Time of History Special Award
Henry Fonda for President [+see also:
film review
interview: Alexander Horwath
film profile] – Alexander Horwath (Austria/Germany)

Special Mention
Savanna and the Mountain [+see also:
film review
interview: Paulo Carneiro
film profile] – Paulo Carneiro (Portugal/Uruguay)

Other Awards

Official Section Audience Award
Bob Trevino Likes It – Tracie Laymon (USA)

Meeting Point Audience Award
Holy Cow – Louise Courvoisier

“Pilar Miró” Award to the Best New Director
Elena Manrique – The Party's Over [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elena Manrique
film profile] (Spain/Belgium)

DOC Award. Spain
Resistance Reels – Concha Barquero and Alejandro Alvarado (Spain/Portugal)

Seminci Youth Award
Hija del volcán – Jenifer de la Rosa (Spain/Mexico)

Youth Jury Prize Official Selection
Armand [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel
interview: Renate Reinsve
film profile] – Halfdan Ullmann Tondel (Norway/Netherlands/Sweden/Germany)

Rainbow Spike Award
Three Kilometres to the End of the World [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emanuel Pârvu
film profile] – Emanuel Pârvu (Romania)

Green Spike Award
Caught by the Tides – Jia Zhang-ke (China)

FIPRESCI Award
Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point – Tyler Taormina (USA)

(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)