22/10/2012 - Frédéric Fonteyne's Tango Libre, takes top prize at the Polish international film festival, before Jakimowski's Imagine and Giurgiu's Of Snails and Men

Belgian director Frédéric Fonteyne's fourth feature, Tango Libre [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Frédéric Fonteyne
film profile], which was awarded the Orrizonti Special Prize in Venice, won the Grand Prix at the 28th Warsaw International Film Festival, which wrapped yesterday (October 21).

Polish director Andrzej Jakimowski's festival opener, Imagine [+see also:
trailer
film profile] - a drama about visually impaired people – garnered him the Best Director prize, while Romanian producer-director Tudor Giurgiu's first film in six years, Of Snails and Men [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tudor Giurgiu
film profile], scooped the Special Jury Award at Saturday's closing ceremony at Warsaw's Multikino Zlote.

Fonteyne's fourth film scripted with Philippe Blasband, and this time with actress-wife Anne Paulicevich, Tango Libre is a love story, jealousy drama (once actioner) mainly shot in Poland’s Kalisz penitentiary, with Paulicevich, François Damiens and Sergi López in the leads.

While in jail, López hears that his wife (Paulicevich) is dancing tango with a prison guard (Damiens) at evening classes, and to regain her attention he decides to learn tango himself – from an Argentine gangster inmate. Before long, most of the convicts are learning to tango...

Produced by Patrick Quinet and Claude Waringo for Belgium's Artémis Productions, Tango Libre will be domestically released on November 7.

This year's edition of the Warsaw showcase screened 200 films from 55 countries to reach app 100,000 admissions.

FULL LIST OF AWARDS

International competition

Warsaw Grand Prix: Tango Libre - Frédéric Fonteyne (Belgium).
Best Director: Andrzej Jakimowski - Imagine (Poland).
Special Jury Award: Of Snails and Men - Tudor Giurgiu (Romania)
Competition 1-2: Dear Betrayed Friend - Sára Cserhalmi (Hungary)
Free Spirit Competition: Modest Reception - Mani Haghighi (Iran)
Documentary Competition: Best Feature: Fuck for Forest - Michał Marczak (Poland)
Short Film Competition: Short Grand Prix: A Story for the Modlins - Sergio Oksman (Spain).
Best Live Action Short: It's Not a Cowboy Movie - Benjamin Parent (France)
Best Animated Short: Noodle Fish - Kim Jin Man (Republic of Korea)
The FIPRESCI Award: The Daughter [+see also:
trailer
film profile] - Alexander Kasatkin, Natalya Nazarova (Russia)
The Ecumenical Award: Operation E - Miguel Courtois Paternina (Spain)
The NETPAC Award: Best Asian Film: Wildlife - Adolfo Borinaga Alix Jr (Philippines)