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THESSALONIKI 2018 Awards

Ray & Liz receives Thessaloniki’s Golden Alexander

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- Richard Billingham’s memoir has come out on top, while Eva Trobisch and Phuttiphong Aroonpheng won the other main awards at the 59th Thessaloniki International Film Festival

Ray & Liz receives Thessaloniki’s Golden Alexander
Marisha Triantafyllidou with her Best Actress Award for her turn in Her Job (© Ververidis Vasilis/Motionteam)

British photographer, artist and director Richard Billingham’s debut feature, Ray & Liz [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Richard Billingham
film profile
]
, has won the “Theo Angelopoulos” Golden Alexander for Best Feature Film at the 59th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, which ran from 1-11 November. The prizes were given out yesterday at the closing-night ceremony, held in the Olympion Theatre.

The international jury, comprising the director of the EYE Filmmuseum, Sandra den Hamer, Romanian director Radu Jude, Iranian actress Fatemeh Motamed-Arya (Simin Motamed), Spanish composer Alfonso de Vilallonga and the director of the Contemporary Art Centre of Thessaloniki, Syrago Tsiara, handed the €8,000 prize to the British drama, which serves as a creative memoir of Billingham’s childhood during the Thatcher era.

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The second award, the Silver Alexander, was bestowed upon Eva Trobisch’s first feature, All Good [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, a drama that follows a woman trying to deny the assault she has fallen victim to. For that performance, leading actress Aenne Schwarz received the Best Actress Award, sharing it with Marisha Triantafyllidou for the Greek female-driven drama Her Job [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nikos Labôt
film profile
]
, directed by Nikos Labôt. The Best Actor Award was bestowed upon Danish thesp Jakob Cedergren for his role in Gustav Möller’s The Guilty [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gustav Möller
film profile
]
, with the film also being voted as the audience’s favourite.

The other big winner of the night was Phuttiphong Aroonpheng’s debut feature, Manta Ray [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, with the Thai director and cinematographer receiving the Special Jury Award for Best Director. The film also picked up the Best Achievement Award for Nawarophaat Rungphiboonsophit’s cinematography, and the Human Values Award from the Hellenic Parliament TV channel.

Finally, the jury handed out two Special Mentions: one to Tribeca winner Smuggling Hendrix [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marios Piperides
film profile
]
by Cypriot debutant Marios Piperides and another to Socrates by Alex Moratto, which also scooped the independent prize for the best LGBTQI-themed film, the Mermaid Award.

The Greek Film Centre (GFC) crowned Steve Krikris’ debut, The Waiter [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, with two awards, one for Best Greek Debut, accompanied by €5,000 in cash, plus the newly introduced Best Location Award from the Hellenic Film Commission, worth €1,500, which went to the film’s location manager, Dimitris Halkiadakis. The GFC also sponsored the Best Virtual Reality Award, valued at €3,000, which was bestowed upon Battlescar by Nico Casavecchia and Μartin Allais.

In the Greek Film Festival 2018 section, Pause [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tonia Mishiali
film profile
]
 by Tonia Mishiali snagged the FIPRESCI Award, while Angelos Frantzis’ Still River [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Angelos Frantzis
film profile
]
 received the Greek Film Critics’ Association Award.

Here is the complete list of winners at the 59th Thessaloniki International Film Festival:

Best Feature Film Award - “Theo Angelopoulos” Golden Alexander
Ray & Liz [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Richard Billingham
film profile
]
- Richard Billingham (UK)

Special Jury Award - Silver Alexander
All Good [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 - Eva Trobisch (Germany)

Special Jury Award for Best Director - Bronze Alexander
Phuttiphong Aroonpheng - Manta Ray [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 (Thailand/France/China)

Best Actor Award
Jakob Cedergren - The Guilty [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gustav Möller
film profile
]
(Denmark)

Best Actress Award (ex aequo)
Aenne Schwarz - All Good
Marisha Triantafyllidou - Her Job [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nikos Labôt
film profile
]
(Greece/France/Serbia)

Special Mentions
Smuggling Hendrix [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marios Piperides
film profile
]
 - Marios Piperides (Cyprus/Germany/Greece)
Socrates - Alex Moratto (Brazil)

Best Artistic Achievement for Cinematography
Nawarophaat Rungphiboonsophit - Manta Ray

Virtual Reality Films Competition

Best Film
Battlescar - Nico Casavecchia, Μartin Allais (France/USA) 

FIPRESCI awards

Best Film in the International Competition
Sofia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Meryem Benm'Barek
film profile
]
 - Meryem Benm’Barek (France/Qatar)

Best Film in the Greek Film Festival
Pause [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tonia Mishiali
film profile
]
 - Tonia Mishiali (Cyprus/Greece)

Greek Film Centre Award
The Waiter [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
- Steve Krikris (Greece)

Hellenic Film Commission Best Location Award
Dimitris Halkiadakis - The Waiter

Greek Film Critics Association Award
Still River [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Angelos Frantzis
film profile
]
 - Angelos Frantzis (Greece/France/Latvia)

Human Values Award
Manta Ray - Phuttiphong Aroonpheng

Mermaid Award
Socrates
 - Alex Moratto

WIFT Award
Touch Me Not
 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adina Pintilie
film profile
]
 - Adina Pintilie (Romania/Germany/Czech Republic/Bulgaria/France)

Youth jury awards

Best Feature Film Award
The Right Pocket of the Robe [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 - Yiannis Lapatas (Greece)

Special Youth Jury Award
Scopophilia [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
- Natalia Lampropoulou, Ilektra Aggeletopoulou (Greece)

Fischer audience awards

International Competition Award
The Guilty - Gustav Möller

Greek Film Festival – Michael Cacoyannis Award
Refuge II: The Ice Path - Christos Nikoleris (Greece)

Balkan Survey Award
Butterflies
 [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Tolga Karaçelik (Turkey)

Open Horizons Award
A Twelve-Year Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Álvaro Brechner
film profile
]
 - Álvaro Brechner (Spain/Argentina/France)

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