11/09/2015 - VENICE 2015: As I Open My Eyes has won the Audience Award and the Europa Cinemas Label, while the Laguna Sud Award went to Lolo for Best Film and to Arianna for Best Italian Discovery

The Venice Days Award 2015 has gone to Canada. The official jury, comprising those taking part in the European Parliament’s 28 Times Cinema programme and chaired by director Laurent Cantet (who won last year with Return to Ithaca [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laurent Cantet
film profile]), has awarded the Venice Days Award, within the Official Selection, to Early Winter by Michael Rowe, admiring its “accomplished execution, the originality of the depiction of the ordinary life and a very confident mise-en-scène”, in addition to the “strong performance of the actors”. The prize consists of a financial contribution of €20,000, split equally between the director and the film’s international sales agent (Pyramide International).

Meanwhile, the BNL Audience Award went to As I Open My Eyes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Leyla Bouzid
film profile] by Leyla Bouzid. The same movie snagged the Europa Cinemas Label for Best European Film in the Venice Days. The jury of exhibitors chose it because it is “a fresh and insightful feature debut”, “a comforting cross-section of Arab society” in which “the character development is excellent and avoids simple stereotypes”, a “film that brings a sense of optimism and potential for progress and resolution for this area of the world”.

The first edition of the Laguna Sud Award, whose jury comprises five inhabitants of Chioggia and Pellestrina, crowned Lolo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Julie Delpy, Dany Boon
film profile] by Julie Delpy as Best Film and Arianna [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carlo Lavagna
film profile] by Carlo Lavagna as Best Italian Discovery.

To read about the FEDEORA Awards, handed out by the film critics of Europe and the Mediterranean, click here.

(Translated from Italian)