Queer Lisboa 13 Award Winners

From September 18 to 26 the fest run in Lisbon and here are the award winners.

Best Feature Film: Ander, Roberto Castón, Spain, 2009
According to the jury, the film “defies youth- and urban-centred fashion and challenges stereotypes of rural life, offering instead a hopeful and courageous alternative to traditional patterns of behaviour.” Ander, which portrays the sexual tension and desire between a solitary middle-aged Basque farmer and a younger Peruvian immigrant, was also referenced for the way it explores “the growing solidarity between its well-developed characters, weaving together their stories in touching, poignant and subtle ways.”

Special Mention: Rabioso Sol, Rabioso Cielo, Julián Hernández, Mexico, 2009
“for offering the viewer a 3-hour experience of pure cinema, in which strong emotions are generated by the movement of the images and the actors, like in a dance”.

Best Actress: Mina Orfanou in Strella, Panos H. Koutras, Greece, 2009
“for her intense and touching performance.” Highlighting that “the energy and physical commitment she puts into her role brings this modern Greek tragedy to life. She goes from joy to desperation, evidencing a wide range of emotion and offering the audience a brilliant portrayal of a transsexual woman with deep emotional conflicts.”

Best Actor: Josean Bengoetxa in Ander, Roberto Castón, Spain, 2009
“for his truthful, intense and always convincing performance” in Ander, by Roberto Castón, in which by “bravely exposing his body, he brings to the screen the vulnerability of a person painstakingly trying to find himself".

Best Documentary: Fig Trees, John Greyson, Canada 2009
“HIV/AIDS and access to treatment is important for everyone, and not least our community; an issue which nowadays has become unfashionable. The jury chose Fig Trees because it gives visibility to this important subject. The rich and complex filmmaking demands the audience’s involvement with its clever combination of classical formal elements, which come together in a very impressive way.”

Special Mention: Verliebt, Verzopft, Verwegen, Katharina Lampert and Cordula Thym, Austria, 2009
“a well-crafted first film offering a glimpse of our past via an optimistic portrait of older lesbians and their lives.”

Best Short Film: Yo Solo Miro, Gorka Cornejo, Spain, 2008

If you feel like checking all the movies, documentaries and shorts in the festival please go here.

25th Festroia International Film Festival Award Winners

Not long ago this Portuguese festival, that I followed but waited until the award winners to post, had its closing ceremony and here are the winners.

Official Prizes

Gold Dolphin for Best Film: Kielletty hedelmä (Forbidden Fruit), Dome Karukoski, Finland and Sweden

Silver Dolphin Special Jury Prize: Laskar pelangi (The Rainbow Troops), Riri Riza, Indonesia
Silver Dolphin for Best Director: Stephan Komandarev for Svetat e golyam i spasenie debne otvsyakade (The World is Big and Salvation Lurks around the Corner), Bulgaria, Germany, Slovenia and Hungary
Silver Dolphin for Best Actress: Amanda Pilke in Kielletty hedelmä (Forbidden Fruit), Dome Karukoski, Finland and Sweden
Silver Dolphin for Best Actor: Samuel Spisak in Nedodrzaný slub (Broken Promise), Jirí Chlumský, Slovakia, Czech Republic and USA
Silver Dolphin for Best Script: Henrik Ruben Genz and Dunja Gry Jansen for Frygtelig lykkelig (Terribly Happy), Henrik Ruben Genz, Denmark
Silver Dolphin for Best Cinematography: Karel Fairaisl for Hlidac c.47 (Guard No. 47), Filip Renc, Czech Republic

Other Awards

First Work Award: Der Freund (The Friend), Micha Lewinsky, Switzerland

FIPRESCI Prize: Het zusje van Katia (Katia’s Sister), Mijke de Jong, Netherlands
SIGNIS Prize: Svetat e golyam i spasenie debne otvsyakade (The World is Big and Salvation Lurks around the Corner), Stephan Komandarev, Bulgaria, Germany, Slovenia and Hungary
CICAE Prize: Kielletty hedelmä (Forbidden Fruit), Dome Karukoski, Finland and Sweden

To read all the awards go here.

Second Life

Not often I have the opportunity to watch a mainstream movie from Portugal and I admit that I was curious. So for pure entertainment purposes I gave a try to this film and have to say that is one beautiful to watch film because quite extraordinary locations in Portugal and Italy. But besides the locations there is not much else in the movie.

The story is sort of a whodunnit? (or well written, who done it?) that starts with the dead guy watching his body from above and with non-linear narrative tells his life in Portugal and we see the too inconsequential and sexually charged small group of friends that attend his birthday party moments before he dies. After we find who or what killed him and we think the movie is finally over, we see a moment of choices in the past and the other life starts this time in Italy.

You could say that the story is interesting, that even all the questions we get as viewers are interesting, but the total film is not and is a shame, as I believe the idea behind the story is good.

There is something that I like in this movie and that many other filmmakers should emulate. The movie is in English, Portuguese and Italian, the real languages with no fake awful accents, as should be if the story is set in Portugal and Italy, and the lead character mother tongue is English. So refreshing to not hear one language that does not fit time or place.

One last comment for one blog reader. The film has some sex scenes but they are really not pleasant to watch and yes the scenes are with two women; I cannot call the scenes of lesbian interest as they look like -and are- targeted to men.

Unfortunately I cannot recommend this movie, but if by any chance you want to see acceptable good-looking actors and fantastic locations in Portugal, then give it a try.

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

Aquele Querido Mês de Agosto (Our Beloved Month of August)

I found this exercise in filmmaking interesting as the mixing of fiction narrative and documentary is quite well done here. Still I find the movie is too long with too many scenes that probably would have been better if the director left them in the editing room. But what most called my attention was the outstanding integration of popular Portuguese songs in the narrative that I find as the main connection link between doc and fiction, as lyrics totally move forward the blurred real/fiction story.

This Miguel Gomes film tells about one summer month in those villages that become alive for summer time when city dwellers, locals, tourists and temporary returning Portuguese emigrants blend together escaping the heat. The doc part follows the crew dealing with all the “problems” with the making of a film called: Aquele Querido Mês de Agosto! So, some claim that is like the Making Of but I believe that is more than that, as is obvious that some scenes are fiction. Also the doc introduces us to the lives of some locals. The fiction narrative is a summer romance between a younger man and woman with no one in their family approving them being together; a romance that while touches many conventional grounds, still manages to be very unconventional. Then the main vehicle to blur fiction and reality are the popular bands that play in the town plaza during those hot summer nights.

Think that this film is hard to explain what’s all about, but while watching is really easy to follow everything that’s happening even when you are not familiar with the Portuguese humor and particularities of their lifestyle nuances. Then perhaps is only me but the film made me remember some hot summer nights that I spent in Spain, as I found the situations and especially the “spice” quite similar.

To me the total style of the film as a movie is more the style of a documentary than a narrative, which is not bad; but on the not so good side definitively helps to feel the film too lengthy. Perhaps if the filmmaker mixed the styles the film length would have not been an issue.

The film premiered at the 2008 Cannes at the Quinzaine section and went to the fest circuit where collected 12 awards including the Best Film at 2009 BAFICI, Special Jury Award at 2009 Guadalajara fest and FIPRESCI Prize at the 2008 Viennale in Vienna, Austria.

Definitively not your usual film but is one that I do recommend if you want to see one great example of blending the documentary and narrative styles. For one special reader I have to comment that this film is a must be seen for those that want to familiarize themselves with the Portuguese idiosyncrasy and enjoy their popular music and culture.

Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion