Murina triumphs at Brussels’ Mediterranean Film Festival
- The feature debut from Croatian director Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović has won three awards at the 21st edition of the festival
Croatian director Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović has swept the board at the 21st Cinémamed – Brussels’ Mediterranean Film Festival where she has won the Grand Jury Prize, the Cineuropa Award ex-aequo, and the Critics’ Award – Special Mention for her feature debut, Murina [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović
interview: Gracija Filipovic
film profile].
Discovered this summer in the Directors’ Fortnight section in Cannes, where the film won the prestigious Caméra D’Or, Murina follows the journey to emancipation of a young woman determined to take charge of her own destiny. Julija, a spirited teenager, and Ante, her authoritative father, live a peaceful but isolated existence on a Croatian island. While Ante is trying to negotiate an arrangement that could change their lives, the visit of an old family friend brings out simmering tensions. In the arrival of this visitor, Julija glimpses an opportunity for a new future and these few days bear the marks of desire and violence.
The film has won the Grand Jury Prize in the Official Competition. The jury also elected to hand out its Special Jury Prize to the Greek film Apples [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christos Nikou
film profile] by Christos Nikou, discovered in summer 2020 at the Venice Film Festival in the Orizzonti section, and already the winner of several awards around the world, from Chicago to Dublin, Seville to Ljubljana. A Special Mention was also given to A Chiara [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jonas Carpignano
film profile] by Jonas Carpignano
The films from the Official Competition were also judged by two other jurys: the Critics’ jury, which also recognised Apples (Critics’ Award) and Murina (Critics’ Award – Special Mention), and the Cineuropa Jury, which chose to award ex-aequo Murina and Hive [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Blerta Basholli
interview: Yllka Gashi
film profile], the feature debut from Kosovo filmmaker Blerta Basholli, which also tells the story of a woman’s destiny but from a different generation, following the emancipation of war widow Fahrije as she frees herself in order to support her family.
The Festival shone a spotlight on younger generations this year through a brand new section, called RêVolution. The RêVolution Grand Prix went, like most other awards at the festival, to a feature debut: La Traviata, My Brothers and I [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] from French actor and filmmaker Yohan Manca, presented in the Un Certain Regard section this summer in Cannes. This is an encouraging award for the film, which will be released in Belgium on 5 January. The RêVolution Jury also handed out a Special Mention to the Italian film Californie [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alessandro Cassigoli, Casey…
film profile] by Alessandro Cassigoli and Casey Kauffman.
Finally, the Youth Jury Award went to French/Turkish film Les Enfants Terribles [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Ahmet Necdet Çupur, while the Audience Award was given to Good Mother [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hafsia Herzi
film profile], the second feature film from young French actress and filmmaker Hafsia Herzi.
The full list of winners:
Official Competition
Grand Jury Prize
Murina [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović
interview: Gracija Filipovic
film profile] - Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović (Croatia/Brazil/United States/Slovenia)
Special Jury Prize
Apples [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christos Nikou
film profile] - Christos Nikou (Greece/Poland/Slovenia)
Special Mention from the Jury
A Chiara [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jonas Carpignano
film profile] - Jonas Carpignano (Italy/France)
RêVolution Competition
RêVolution Award
La Traviata, My Brothers and I [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Yohan Manca (France)
RêVolution Award – Special Mention
Californie [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alessandro Cassigoli, Casey…
film profile] - Alessandro Cassigoli & Casey Kauffman (Italy)
Other awards
Cineuropa Award (ex-aequo)
Hive [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Blerta Basholli
interview: Yllka Gashi
film profile] - Blerta Basholli (Kosovo/Switzerland/North Macedonia/Albania)
Murina - Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović
Critics’ Award
Apples - Christos Nikou
Critics’ Award – Special Mention
Murina - Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović
Youth Jury Award
Les Enfants Terribles [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Ahmet Necdet Çupur (France/Turkey/Germany)
Audience Award
Good Mother [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hafsia Herzi
film profile] - Hafsia Herzi (France)
(Translated from French)
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