26/11/2008

Abdolreza Kahani’s Iranian drama Over There won the Golden Alexander at the 49th Thessaloniki Film Festival (November 14-23), while Adrian Sitaru’s Franco/Romanian drama Hooked [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adrian Sitaru
film profile] walked away with the Silver Alexander for second place.

Best Director went to Celina Murga for Una Semana Solos (Argentina), Australia’s Matthew Newton grabbed Best Screenplay for Three Blind Mice and Szabolcs Tolnai received the Artistic Achievement Award for Croatian/Hungarian film Hourglass.

The Best Actor Award went ex aequo to Sid Lucero and Emilio Garcia for their parts in The Inmate (Philippines), while Best Actress was also shared, by Iona Flora and Maria Dinulescu for their performances in Hooked [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adrian Sitaru
film profile].

FIPRESCI prizes went out to I’m Gonna Explode by Mexican director Gerardo Naranjo for the International Competition section, as well as to Panos Karkanevatos’ Well Kept Secrets – Athanasia, featured in the Greek Panorama.

At the Greek State Awards, Alexandros Avranas’ warmly received debut film Without, produced by Nikos Sekeris for his Nik-S Movies, won First Prize for Fiction, also grabbing, among other awards, Best Debut Film Director, Best Actress (Evi Saoulidou) and Best Cinematography (Ilias Konstantakopoulos).

Second place was reserved for the poorly reviewed Slaves in Their Bonds, a period drama by Tonis Lykouressis – also produced by Sekeris for Nik-S Movies – which snagged a total 10 awards, including Second Prize for Fiction, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor (for Yannis Fertis) and Best Supporting Actor and Actress (Christos Loulis and Dimitra Matsouka, respectively).

Third Prize for Fiction went to Karkanevatos’ Greek/Belgian/Canadian/Netherlands/US costly co-production Well Kept Secrets – Athanasia.