06/05/2019 - The movie by Argentina’s María Alché has gone home with the Talents Award and the Critics’ Award from the ninth edition of the enjoyable film gathering, which came to a close on Sunday 5 May

The D’A Film Festival brought its ninth edition to a close in Barcelona yesterday, one day after its awards were handed out. Standing out among the prize-winners thanks to its twofold victory was the transatlantic production A Family Submerged [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Argentina/Brazil/Germany/Norway), the feature-length directorial debut by actress María Alché (who performed in Lucrecia Martel’s The Holy Child), starring the magnificent Mercedes Morán (El Ángel [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]). The film scooped the main trophy at the gathering, the Talents Award for Best Film, as well as the Critics’ Award. A Family Submerged, which recently went on general release in Spain, after taking part in the Locarno, Göteborg and San Sebastián Film Festivals (in addition to picking up the Best Film Award in the Horizontes Latinos section of the latter), is an intimate reflection on loss.

The jury was made up of Andrea Stavenhagen (programmer), Vanesa Fernández Guerra (ZINEBI - Bilbao International Documentary and Short Film Festival) and Sergi Pérez (the director of The Long Way Home [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sergi Pérez
film profile] and a film teacher at the ESCAC), who singled out the winning film “for turning mourning into a personal process of transition within a chaotic and luminous family environment, and for managing to adopt the perspective of a woman interrupted, which is in equal parts original and endearing”.

The Un Impulso Colectivo (lit. “A Collective Push”) jury bestowed the OpenECAM Award, comprising the loan of facilities and technical equipment at the ECAM (Film and Audiovisual School of the Community of Madrid), to the Swedish-German-Norwegian production Hamada [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eloy Domínguez Serén
film profile], helmed by Spaniard Eloy Domíguez Serén, for “its elegant and dazzling mise-en-scène, which questions the utopia of emigration”. In addition, it granted a Special Mention to Young & Beautiful [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Marina Lameiro (Spain), for “the inventiveness with which it keeps its finger on the pulse of an entire generation through its emphasis on the freedom to make life choices, honesty and a sense of humour”. The Un Impulso Colectivo jury was made up of María Rubín (head of Spanish Film at Movistar Plus+), Serrana Torres (producer) and Gemma Vidal (head of The Screen/ECAM’s La Incubadora programme for feature development).

The Movistar Plus+ Award (encompassing the purchase of broadcasting rights by this particular TV channel, valued at €12,000, for one of the films in the Un Impulso Colectivo section) was handed to the experimental title Letters to Paul Morrissey [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Armand Rovira
film profile] by Armand Rovira (aided by Saida Benzal, who also acts in the film), which previously passed through the most recent Seville Film Festival, as well as Novos Cinemas in Pontevedra and Tallinn Black Nights. In the jury’s view, the movie is “a hypnotic journey to the very depths of a group of tormented protagonists, which enraptures from the get-go thanks to the rigour and beauty of what it has to offer”.

Here is the complete list of winners:

Talents Award
A Family Submerged [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - María Alché (Argentina/Brazil/Germany/Norway)

OpenECAM Award
Hamada [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eloy Domínguez Serén
film profile] - Eloy Domínguez Serén (Sweden/Germany/Norway)
Special Mention
Young & Beautiful [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Marina Lameiro (Spain)

Movistar Plus+ Award
Letters to Paul Morrissey [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Armand Rovira
film profile] - Armand Rovira (Spain)

Critics’ Award 
A Family Submerged - María Alché
Special Mention
Sophia Antipolis [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Virgil Vernier
film profile] - Virgil Vernier (France)

Audience Award for Best Short Film
Watermelon Juice - Irene Mora (Spain)

Sala Jove D’A Audience Award
Ruben Brandt, Collector [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] - Milorad Krstic (Hungary)

(Translated from Spanish)