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CANNES 2021 Critics’ Week / Awards

Feathers emerges victorious in the Cannes Critics’ Week

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- CANNES 2021: The feature debut by Egypt’s Omar El Zohairy has taken home the Grand Prize, while the Rising Star Award went to actress Sandra Melissa Torres for her turn in Amparo

Feathers emerges victorious in the Cannes Critics’ Week
Feathers by Omar El Zohairy

Chaired by Romanian director Cristian Mungiu, the jury of the 60th Critics’ Week at the 74th Cannes Film Festival has handed out the 2021 Grand Prize to Feathers [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Egypt’s Omar El Zohairy. This feature debut revolves around a passive mother, whose mundane life is dedicated to her husband and children. When a magic trick goes awry at a children’s birthday party, the authoritative father of the family turns into a chicken. An avalanche of coincidental absurdities befalls everyone; the mother is now forced to come to the fore and take care of her family. While moving heaven and earth to bring her husband back and secure their survival, she goes through a total transformation. Feathers was produced by Paris-based outfit Still Moving, and was co-produced by Egypt’s Film Clinic and Lagoonie FilmProduction, Dutch firm Kepler Film, Verona Meier (a producer working in both Berlin and Norway) and Greece’s Heretic (which is also in charge of its international sales).

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Intended to single out a talented actor or actress, the Rising Star Award went to Colombian thesp Sandra Melissa Torres for her turn in Amparo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by her fellow countryman Simón Mesa Soto, a feature debut staged by Ocúltimo, in co-production with Sweden’s Momento Film, Germany’s Flare Film and Colombia’s Medio de Contención Producciones. Its international sales are handled by Germany’s The Match Factory.

Of note among the awards handed out by the Critics’ Week’s partners are the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution, which was bestowed upon Zero Fucks Given [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emmanuel Marre and Julie Le…
film profile
]
by French duo Julie Lecoustre and Emmanuel Marre (produced by Belgium’s Wrong Men, and co-produced by France, courtesy of Kidam, with sales by Charades); and the SACD Award, which singled out Olga [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elie Grappe
film profile
]
by their fellow countryman Elie Grappe (produced by Switzerland’s Point Prod and France’s Cinéma Defacto, and sold by Pulsar Content).

Here is the full list of award winners:

Nespresso Grand Prize
Feathers [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Omar El Zohairy (France/Egypt/Netherlands/Greece)

Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award
Sandra Melissa Torres - Amparo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(Colombia/Sweden/Germany/Qatar)

Gan Foundation Award for Distribution
Zero Fucks Given [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emmanuel Marre and Julie Le…
film profile
]
- Julie Lecoustre, Emmanuel Marre (Belgium/France)

SACD Award
Olga [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elie Grappe
film profile
]
- Elie Grappe (Switzerland/France)

Leitz Cine Discovery Prize for Short Film
Lili Alone (Duo Li) – Zou Jing (China/Hong Kong/Singapore)

Canal+ Award for Short Film
Brutalia, Days of Labour – Manolis Mavris (Greece/Belgium)

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(Translated from French)

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