28th Athens International Film Festival: International Competition Awards

The Jury for the International Competition Section of the 28th Athens International Film Festival consisted of:

NADAV LAPID, Golden Bear Award-winning director and screenwriter,
President
LOUIZA ARKOUMANEA, theatre critic
ARNAUD VALOIS, actor
DIANA ELBAUM, producer
ALEXIS JUNKOSA, President of the Europa Film Festivals Network

The international awards GOLDEN ATHENA BEST FILM and BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM are accompanied by a cash prize of 2000 Euros and the statuettes are kindly sponsored by ZOLOTAS jewellery stores. Our juries also present the CITY OF ATHENS BEST DIRECTOR and BEST SCREENPLAY awards, while the GREEK FILM CRITICS’ ASSOCIATION AWARD and the FISCHER AUDIENCE AWARD are also presented to films of the International Competition section.

Golden Athena Award
RETURN TO SEOUL by Davy Chou

The Jury’s rationale:

«They say that while everything is fragile, momentary, everything could stop existing in a second, mothers and children are forever. Mothers and children, it’s the basis of the human experience, the basis of human existence. What will become out of those who are motherless? Those whose mothers refused to be their mothers? Refused to have them as children, and keep on refusing to meet them, to know them? How will they walk? How will they talk? How will they dance and have sex and love and hate? Maybe with this desperate liberty of the eternal ruthless ones, for whom, like the movie itself says “everything in every moment can disappear with the slightest snap of a finger”. The Golden Athens Award for Best Film goes to «Return to Seoul» by Davy Chou».

City of Athens Best Director Award
1976 by Manuela Martelli 

The Jury’s rationale:

«We wanted to reward a director who has formulated a real cinematographic proposal, signing a beautiful character study and building an ambitious aesthetic and narrative space. Seduced in particular by the musical choices and the creation of the film within a political context dealing intelligently with the question of totalitarianism, we are giving out the City of Athens Award for Best Direction to Manuela Martelli for the film «1976».

Best Screenplay Award
JOYLAND by Saim Sadiq

The Jury’s rationale:
«The first award goes to a powerful, moving script deeply synchronized with the spirit of our time. Through the story of a contemporary Pakistani family, we come to experience all the subtle and not-so-subtle ways in which family ties smother their members by trapping them inside stereotyped gender roles and leading them, literally and metaphorically, to their deaths. Family kills desire. There is no way out. One has to submit to its patriarchal law or die. At a time when gender divisions are being questioned more radically than ever before, this script dives into the agonizing dilemmas of everyday people who are constantly and fatally prevented from exploring their true desires and experiencing a free, joyful and adventurous existence. The Award for Best Screenplay goes to Saim Sadiq and Maggie Briggs for «Joyland».

Fischer Audience Award
THE BLUE CAFTAN, by Maryam Touzani

In Ariadni’s Alexopoulou, Brand Manager’s Fischer & International Premium Brands words:

"We are together again, in this familiar and enchanting venue, meeting with the big screen that we love so much to take us on a journey guided by art, creation and inspiration. The 28th Athens International Film Festival, after 10 days of special screenings, which we had the opportunity to enjoy in person, closes today in this magical space!

Fischer beer, in turn, supporting, as always, the seventh art, as it is the most cinephile beer, was present this year at the 28th Athens International Film Festival. Through the Audience Award, Fischer gave a voice to the choices of cinephiles, rewarding the films and the creators who "touched" the audience.

In closing and before we get to the voting results, we would like to thank the 28th Athens International Film Festival! An event for which many congratulations are due to the entire Festival team who curated everything with great success and magnificent cinema!

Regardless of the result, let's all say a big thumbs up to all the participants, who with their cinematic vision captivated and won the interest of the spectators! Thank you and we renew our cinematic appointment for next year!" 

Greek Film Critics Association Award
THE BLUE CAFTAN by Maryam Touzani

The Greek Film Critics Association’s rationale:

“The Greek Film Critics Association chooses to award the prize to a film in which the director, with a radical critical attitude, tackles a complex political-social reality and presents gender segregation in an excellent way. This makes her film an antidote to orientalism for European audiences. She achieves all this through modern cinematic language, her editing, the sensitivity of the camera's gaze and the film’s evocative performances”.