06/10/2015 - Arab and Tarzan Abu Nasser's film has won the Golden Athena, while Alanté Kavaïté has won Best Director for The Summer of Sangaile

Director Mark Noonan collecting his Best Screenplay Award (© AIFF/Vangelis Patsialos)

Jacques Audiard's Dheepan [+see also:
film review
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Q&A: Jacques Audiard
film profile] has brought the Athens International Film Festival to a close, the film being screened right after the 21st edition's awards ceremony, where Arab and Tarzan Abu Nasser's drama Dégradé [+see also:
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film profile] (Palestine/France/Qatar) was tapped as best of show, winning the Golden Athena.

Previously a Cannes and Toronto Film Festival contender, the film focuses on a day in the life of seven patrons of a hair salon in the Gaza Strip, where an outbreak of gunfire wreaks havoc.

The directors were not on hand to collect the prize, and nor was Alanté Kavaïté, whose Sundance-awarded film The Summer of Sangaile [+see also:
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interview: Alanté Kavaïté
film profile] (Lithuania/France/the Netherlands) won her the City of Athens Prize for Best Director. Mark Noonan, however, who won the Best Screenplay Award for his Berlinale-screened You're Ugly Too [+see also:
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interview: Mark Noonan
film profile], went on stage to thank the festival and proclaim his wish to film in Greece.

Giulio Ricciarelli's Nazi trial film Labyrinth of Lies [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Giulio Ricciarelli
interview: Giulio Ricciarelli
film profile] picked up the Audience Award, while Verónica Llinás' performance in Dog Lady (Argentina) won her an Honourable Mention.

On the local front, Yiannis Veslemes was tapped as Best Newcomer for his directing work on his well-travelled, Karlovy Vary-screened film Norway [+see also:
trailer
film profile], while Xenia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Panos H. Koutras
film profile]'s leading duo of Kostas Nikouli and Nikos Gelia and A Blast [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Syllas Tzoumerkas
film profile] supporting actress Maria Filini picked up the section's Best New Actor and Actress Awards, respectively. Nikos Tsemperopoulos, the son of seasoned director Yorgos Tsemperopoulos, won the top prize in the shorts section for his UK-produced film Simon Says.