14/11/2016 - Attila Till’s Hungarian dramedy won the Golden Alexander, with Heartstone and The Sower picking up Silver and Bronze, respectively

Director Attila Till sent a video acceptance speech (© Motion Team)

Attila Till’s subversive action-comedy Kills on Wheels [+see also:
film review
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film profile] has won top honours at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival: his story of three wheelchair-bound men who become Mafia hitmen picked up the Golden Alexander at Sunday night’s awards ceremony. The film, which explores the themes of rejection and estrangement, also took home the Best Actor Award for its trio of protagonists, namely Zoltan Fenyvesi, Szabolcs Thuroczy and Adam Fekete.

Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson’s drama Heartstone [+see also:
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interview: Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson
film profile] (Iceland/Denmark) came in second and won the Silver Alexander, and Yosuke Takeuchi’s Japanese drama The Sower won the Bronze Alexander for Best Director, with the latter also winning the Best Actress Award for Suzuno Takenaka’s performance, splitting the accolade with Dimitra Vlagkopoulou for her work in Sofia Exarchou’s feature debut, Park [+see also:
film review
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interview: Sofia Exarchou
film profile] (Greece/Poland).

Local titles Afterlov [+see also:
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interview: Stergios Paschos
film profile] (Greece) by first-timer Stergios Paschos and Amerika Square [+see also:
trailer
interview: Yannis Sakaridis
film profile] (Greece/UK/Germany) by Yannis Sakaridis each won a Special Mention for lead actors Haris Fragoulis and Vassilis Koukalani, respectively, with Sakaridis’ refugee drama also going on to pick up the Special Youth Jury Award and the FIPRESCI Award for a Greek Film, while William Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: William Oldroyd
film profile] (UK) snagged the FIPRESCI Award for an International Competition Film. 

Recently deceased director Nikos Triantafyllidis’ documentary Nostalgia for the Future, a life’s work focusing on Thessaloniki’s PAOK Football Club, was awarded the Best Greek Film of the Year Award by the Greek Film Critics’ Association, while Rayhana’s coming-of-age drama I Still Hide to Smoke (France/Greece/Algeria), Sotiris Tsafoulias’ suspense thriller The Other Me (Greece), Baris Kaya and Soner Caner’s coming-of-age story Rauf [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Turkey), and Mariano Cohn and Gaston Duprat’s dark comedy The Distinguished Citizen [+see also:
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film profile] (Argentina/Spain) were stamped as the viewers’ favourites when they pocketed the four Audience Awards.

Here is the full list of winners of the Thessaloniki IFF: 

Best Full-length Feature Film Award – Golden Alexander “Theo Angelopoulos”
Kills on Wheels [+see also:
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Special Jury Award – Silver Alexander
Heartstone [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson
film profile] – Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson (Iceland/Denmark) 

Special Jury Award for Best Director – Bronze Alexander
The Sower – Yosuke Takeuchi (Japan) 

Best Actor Award
Zoltan Fenyvesi, Szabolcs Thuroczy and Adam Fekete – Kills on Wheels

Best Actress Award (ex aequo)
Dimitra Vlagkopoulou – Park [+see also:
film review
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interview: Sofia Exarchou
film profile] (Greece/Poland)
Suzuno Takenaka – The Sower

Best Artistic Achievement Award
Afterlov [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stergios Paschos
film profile] – Stergios Paschos (Greece)

Special Mention
Actor Vassilis Koukalani – Amerika Square [+see also:
trailer
interview: Yannis Sakaridis
film profile] (Greece/UK/Germany)
Actor Haris Fragoulis – Afterlov 

FIPRESCI Awards

For a Film in the International Competition
Lady Macbeth [+see also:
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interview: William Oldroyd
film profile] – William Oldroyd (UK)

For a Film in the Greek Film Festival (Premieres)
Amerika Square – Yannis Sakaridis

Greek Film Critics’ Association’s Best Greek Film of the Year Award
90 Years PAOK – Nostalgia for the Future – Nikos Triantafyllidis (Greece)

Human Values Award
Sámi Blood [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Amanda Kernell
interview: Lars Lindstrom
film profile] – Amanda Kernell (Sweden/Denmark/Norway)

ERT SA Award
Park – Sofia Exarchou

Youth Jury Awards

Best Feature Film Award
The Other Me – Sotiris Tsafoulias (Greece)

Special Youth Jury Award
Amerika Square – Yannis Sakaridis 

Fischer Audience Awards 

For a Film in the International Competition
I Still Hide to Smoke – Rayhana (France/Greece/Algeria)

For a Film in the Greek Film Festival Section
The Other Me – Sotiris Tsafoulias

For a Film in the Balkan Survey Section
Rauf [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Baris Kaya and Soner Caner (Turkey)

For a Film in the Open Horizons Section
The Distinguished Citizen [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] – Mariano Cohn and Gaston Duprat (Argentina/Spain)