The 65^th Seminci – Valladolid International Film Festival drew to a close on Saturday 31 October. Although it was an edition with a lower number of screenings, owing to the restrictions imposed by the health crisis, according to its director, Javier Angulo, it was still “carried out with the exactly the same amount of care and hopeful anticipation as in previous years, despite the obstacles”. And so, with a reduced capacity in the Calderón theatre in order to maintain a safe distance between attendees, the prizes were handed out during a gala ceremony that was brought forward from its usual time slot in order to observe the curfew imposed in the region of Castile and León. During the event, the film that garnered the most acclaim was the Hungarian production Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time [+leggi anche:
recensione
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intervista: Lili Horvat
intervista: Natasa Stork
scheda film], the deserving winner of the Golden Spike for Best Film in the official section, the Pilar Miró Award for Best New Director for Lili Horvát, and the Best Actress gong for Natasa Stork.

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The jury was chaired by British producer Peter Beale, Spanish actress Emma Suárez (Julieta [+leggi anche:
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Q&A: Pedro Almodóvar
scheda film]), screenwriter Alicia Luna (Rosa’s Wedding [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]), Spanish producer Antonio Pérez and French distributor Stéphane Sorlat. Their verdict also smiled upon Gaza mon amour [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], a co-production between France, Germany, Portugal, Palestine and Qatar, the second feature by brothers Tarzan and Arab Nasser, who picked up the Silver Spike and the Miguel Delibes Award for Best Screenplay.

“There’s been a very strong ideological presence in this year’s films,” stated Beale as he read out the winners’ list, “and one theme stands out particularly in all of them: the challenges to survival. Today, we are all engrossed in the struggle to survive COVID-19. Before he was assassinated, President Kennedy said that it’s the artists who have new ideas, and that’s why he invested in the arts in the USA. Festivals like the Seminci are very important because they allow artists to express themselves, and we have seen films with some important ideas here.” In a similar vein, the Ribera del Duero Award for Best Director was tied between France’s Aurel for the animated movie funded by France and Spain Josep [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Aurel
scheda film], and Ivan Ostrochovský for Servants [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ivan Ostrochovský
scheda film], a Slovakian-Romanian-Czech-Irish co-production.

The Best Actor gong ended up going to Shai Avivi, for his role as a father devoted to caring for his autistic child in Here We Are [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film] by Nir Bergman. In the technical categories, the Best Director of Photography Award was bestowed upon Matthias Delvaux for his work on the Chinese feature The Cloud in Her Room, and the José Salcedo Award for Best Editing was handed to Vessela Martschewski, for her sterling work on Persian Lessons [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Leonie Benesch
scheda film].

The jury, which also gave out a Special Mention to There Is No Evil [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], the Golden Bear winner at this year’s Berlinale, helmed by Mohammad Rasoulof, decided that El mártir by Spaniard Fernando Pomares was deserving of the Golden Spike for Best Short Film and the EFA Award. The Silver Spike was presented to the Canadian short Moi, Barnabè by Jean-François Lévesque. As for the Audience Award in the Official Section, the winning title was Nowhere Special [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Uberto Pasolini
scheda film] by Uberto Pasolini.

Here is the full list of winners:

Official Section

Golden Spike for Best Film
Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Lili Horvat
intervista: Natasa Stork
scheda film] – Lili Horvát (Hungary)

Silver Spike
Gaza mon amour [+leggi anche:
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trailer
scheda film] – Tarzan and Arab Nasser (France/Germany/Portugal/Palestine/Qatar)

Ribera del Duero Award for Best Director (ex aequo)
Aurel – Josep [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Aurel
scheda film] (France/Spain)
Ivan Ostrochovský – Servants [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ivan Ostrochovský
scheda film] (Slovakia/Romania/Czech Republic/Ireland)

Pilar Miró Award for Best New Director
Lili Horvát - Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time

Best Actress Award
Natasa Stork – Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time

Best Actor Award
Shai Avivi - Here We Are [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film] (Israel/Italy)

Miguel Delibes Award for Best Screenplay
Tarzan and Arab Nasser – Gaza mon amour

José Salcedo Award for Best Editing
Vessela Martschewski - Persian Lessons [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Leonie Benesch
scheda film] (Russia/Germany/Belarus)

Best Director of Photography Award
Matthias Delvaux - The Cloud in Her Room (China)

Audience Award
Nowhere Special [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Uberto Pasolini
scheda film] - Uberto Pasolini (Italy/Romania/UK)

Jury Special Mention
There Is No Evil [+leggi anche:
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trailer
scheda film] - Mohammad Rasoulof (Germany/Czech Republic/Iran)

Meeting Point section

Best Film
180º Rule - Farnoosh Samadi (Iran)

Time of History section

First Prize
Radio Silence [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Juliana Fanjul
scheda film] - Juliana Fanjul (Switzerland/Mexico)

Second Prize
The Reason I Jump [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Jerry Rothwell (UK/USA)

DOC Spain section

Best Film
Tierra de leche y miel - Gonzalo Recio, Héctor Domínguez-Viguera and Carlos Mora Fuentes