Silence of Reason wins two Punto de Vista awards
- The anti-violence essay by Macedonian filmmaker Kumjana Novakova has won the official Grand Prize for the best film of the festival and the Youth Prize
The International Jury of the Official Selection of the eighteenth Punto de Vista Film Festival, held from 11 to 16 March in Pamplona (Navarra), was made up of the New York-based Spanish filmmaker Ruth Somalo, the art critic Jorge Villacorta and the artist Ainara Elgoibar. The jury decided to award the Punto de Vista Grand Prize for Best Film, worth 10,000, to Silence of Reason [+see also:
film review
film profile], a production between Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia directed by Kumjana Novakova, “because it uncovers a geography of local violence that appeals to the universal and inevitably brings us back to the present time and current wars, such as those taking place in Ukraine and Gaza", according to the jury's report.
The Jean Vigo Award for Best Director, worth 5,000 euros, went to the Belgian medium-length film Ôte-toi de mon soleil by Messaline Raverdy. “A film that reminds us that certain mental mechanisms have their origin in violence, also systemic, that there is beauty in complex divergent thinking, that mutual care is a field of politics and that we all, deep down, share the same need: to love and be loved", says the jury.
The Jury's Special Mention in the Best Film category went to La rivière, by the French director Dominique Marchais, and in the Best Director category it went to the feature film Corazón embalsamado, by the Argentinean Julieta Seco.
The Best Short Film Award (3,000 euros) went to Avalancha by Daniel Cortés Ramírez, “a sensorial journey through the recurrent and historical violence in Colombia and its recording formats, to the rhythm of an exceptional sound design; a work that proposes collective mourning as an expression and weapon of resistance”.
The Special Audience Award for Best Film (1,650 euros) went to the short film El canto de los años nuevos directed by the Spanish Alexander Cabeza Trigg, while the Youth Award for Best Film (1,500 euros) also went to Silence of Reason by Kumjana Novakova. “The winner stood out for both form and content. We felt it was very necessary to give space to the subject matter, the approach and the way it is reflected. Through the negation of the image and without falling into visual pornography, which would be easy in this case, it conveys and communicates reality", concludes the youth jury, emphasising the film’s qualities on horror, dehumanisation and violence, which was shown at previous film festivals such as Sarajevo, IDFA and Turin 2023.
The full list of awards:
Punto de Vista Award for Best Film
Silence of Reason [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Kumjana Novakova (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Northern Macedonia)
Special Jury Mention
La rivière - Dominique Marchais (France)
Jean Vigo Award for Best Director
Ôte-toi de mon soleil - Messaline Raverdy (Belgium)
Special Jury Mention
Corazón embalsamado - Julieta Seco (Argentina)
Best Short Film Award
Avalancha - Daniel Cortés Ramírez (Colombia)
Other Awards
Special Audience Award for Best Film
El canto de los años nuevos - Alexander Cabeza Trigg (Spain) (short film)
Youth Award for Best Film
Silence of Reason - Kumjana Novakova
Filmmaker X Films 2024
Celia Viada Caso
(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)
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