29/09/2014 - Magical Girl wins the Awards for Best Film and Best Director in an awards list featuring a strong European presence

Madrid-born director Carlos Vermut, who just a few days ago told Cineuropa that he considered himself “a virgin” of the cinema world, joked after the closing ceremony: “This has been like taking part in a bukkake.” Indeed, his second film, Magical Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carlos Vermut
film profile], cleaned up at the San Sebastián Film Festival, winning out over huge names such as François Ozon, Bille August and Susanne Bier by earning the Golden Shell for Best Film and the Silver Shell for Best Director – which, according to Fernando Bovaira, the chair of the jury, he was awarded because he “had a unique and unsettling voice”.

The Spanish film industry also earned itself some other awards, with two prizes going to Marshland [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alberto Rodríguez
film profile]: Best Actor for Javier Gutiérrez and Best Cinematography for Alex Catalán. Paprika Steen snagged the Silver Shell for Best Actress for Danish film Silent Heart [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], while French movie Wild Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], by Cédric Kahn, won the Special Jury Prize. The awards list for the Official Section was rounded off by the Best Screenplay Award, which went to Dennis Lehane for The Drop, Belgian director Michaël R Roskam’s first foray into US cinema.

Other awards at this outstanding edition included New Directors for The Lesson [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kristina Grozeva, Petar Val…
interview: Margita Gosheva
film profile] (Bulgaria-Greece), by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, with a Special Mention going to Modris [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Latvia-Greece-Germany), directed by Juris Kursietis. The Irizar Basque Film Award went to Negociador [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], by Borja Cobeaga, while the audience, consisting of myriad viewers who totally packed out the screenings, voted for The Salt of the Earth [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (France), a documentary by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado. The Award for Best European Film in the Pearls category was snapped up by the Spanish-Argentinian production Wild Tales [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile].

The Youth Jury picked the daring Güeros, by Alonso Ruizpalacios (Mexico), which also came out on top in the Horizontes Latinos section, whose jury handed Special Mentions to two French co-productions: Natural Sciences [+see also:
trailer
film profile], produced with Argentina, and Gente de bien [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], produced with Colombia. The FIPRESCI Award was picked up by Christian Petzold's Phoenix [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Christian Petzold
film profile] (Germany), and the Another Look Award (handed out by TVE) went to Céline Sciamma's Girlhood [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Céline Sciamma
interview: Céline Sciamma
film profile] (France).

(Translated from Spanish)