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FESTIVALS Romania

Mexicans triumph at Transylvania

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The awards ceremony of the Transylvania International Film Festival, held last Saturday night at the National Theatre Hall in Cluj-Napoca, saw Mexican filmmakers walk away with both the Transylvania Trophy and the Special Jury Prize.

The latter went to Fernando Eimbcke's Lake Tahoe while the night culminated in Yulene Olaizula collecting the Transylvania Trophy (and €10,000) from Catherine Deneuve for her $600 feature documentary Intimacies of Shakespeare and Victor Hugo.

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The third Mexican feature in competition, Rodrigo Pla’s The Zone [+see also:
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film profile
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(a co-production with Spain), almost pulled a Mexican hat-trick, coming in second by just 0.04 points for the Audience Award, which went to French director Samuel Benchetrit's comedy I Always Wanted to Be a Gangster [+see also:
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.

Omar Shargawi capped the Directing Award for Go With Peace Jamil [+see also:
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interview: Meta Louise Foldager
interview: Omar Shargawi
film profile
]
, while one of the top contenders for the prize, Estonian title Autumn Ball [+see also:
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film profile
]
by Veiko Ounpuu, eventually won the Best Cinematography award, collected by DoP Mart Taniel.

Romanians didn't miss out their own party, however. Besides Lifetime Achievement Awards for local legends Tamara Buciuceanu and Radu Beligan, Thomas Ciulei's documentary The Flower Bridge, which previously won prizes at Cinema du Reel in Paris and the goEast Festival, was chosen as the Best Romanian Days Feature. The jury unanimously picked the satirical Inspiration, a Moldovan/Romanian co-production directed by Igor Cobileanski, as the Best Romanian Days Short.

Director Corneliu Porumboiu (12:08 East of Bucharest [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Corneliu Porumboiu
interview: Daniel Burlac
film profile
]
) was at the centre of yet another emotional moment of the evening, when he was decorated by Ambassador Henri Paul with the Chevalier Des Arts et Lettres on behalf of the French Republic.

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