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FESTIVALS France

Darwin's Nightmare, a triumph in Angers

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The Austrian prize-winner Hubert Sauper has just won another prize. After his success at the last European Film Awards for the Best documentary, he can boast about another victory: last Saturday, he received the first prize at the Angers Film Festival Premiers Plans for Darwin's Nightmare. This film, which was competing against 9 other feature films, comes back on a great environmental drama which took place on the shores of Lake Vitoria in Tanzania. In the 60s, a dangerous predatory fish, the Nile perch, was introduced in the Lake for experimental purposes and caused the death of nearly all the fish naturally present in these waters, all this for the benefit of a great capitalistic trade, the trade of perch, known all over the North Hemisphere for its delicate white flesh. The film was co-produced by the Austrian company Coop 99 (Antonin Svoboda-Martin Gschlacht), the French company 1001 Productions (Edouard Mauriat-Anne Cécile Berthomeau), and the Belgian Saga Film (Hubert Toint). Darwin's Nightmare will be released in France on the 9th of March. It is distributed by Ad Vitam.

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This year's presidents of the jury (within which we find the Italian superstar Stefano Accorsi) were the director Claude Miller and the actress Jacqueline Bisset. It also granted a special prize to the Norwegian feature film Uno byAksel Hennie. As far as the Groupement National des Cinémas de Recherche (French research cinema society) is concerned, it was the Hungarian movie Dealer by Benedek Fliegauf which was distinguished, while the public fell for yet another film, a Belgian and Moroccan co-production, L'enfant endormi (The Sleeping Child) by Yasmine Kassari which also got the prize for the best actress (Rachida Brakni and Maunia Osfour). As for this year's award for the best actor and emerging European talent, it went to the Italian Vincenzo Pacilli for his role in Vento di Terra by Vincenzo Marra

The complete list of winners is:

Best European feature film
Jury's First choice: Darwin's Nightmare by Hubert Sauper (Austria/France/Belgium)

Jury's Special Prize: Uno by Aksel Hennie (Norway)

Choice of the Public: L'enfant endormi (The Sleeping Child) by Yasmine Kassari (Belgium/Morocco)

Special choice by GNCR: Dealer by Benedek Fliegauf (Hungary)

Best actor-emerging European talent: Vincenzo Pacilli in Vento di Terra by Vincenzo Marra (Italy)

Best actress: Rachida Brakni and Maunia Osfour in L'enfant endormi by Yasmine Kassari

Best music: Giuliano Taviani in Samir by Francesco Munzi (Italy)

Best short films
Jury's First choice: Hatarontul by Arpad Shilling (Hungary)
Choice of the Public: Breaking out by Marianella Maldonado (United Kingdom)
Jury's Special Prize: Trafic by Catalin Mitulescu (Rumania)
Prize ARTE: Trafic by Catalin Mitulescu (Rumania)

Best French short films
Jury's First choice: Transit by Bani Khoshnoudi
Choice of the Public: La tête dans le vide by Sophie Letourneur
Prize CCAS: 21H11 by Arnaud Bigeard
Prize CINECINEMA: La nature a horreur du vide by Gabrielle Cariolle

European cinema schools

Jury's First choice: Les étrangers by Eskil Vogt (La Fémis–France)
Jury's Special Prize: Roomservice by Emil Graffman (PWSFTVIT-Poland)
Choice of the Public: Dvier by Vladimir Kott (VKSR-Russia)
Prize UIP: Flatlife by Jonas Geirnaert (KASK/Hogeschool-Belgium)
Angers students' choice: Noc V Hoteli by Matus Libovic (VSMU/FTF-Slovaquia)
Prize IUT Angers: Dvier by Vladimir Kott (VKSR-Russia)
Best music in a European, French, or student's short film: Jean-François Viguie in Obras by Hendrick Dusollier
Best script (on reading)
Choice of the public: La Fortune by Laurent de Bartillat and Alain Ross, read by Laëtitia Spigarelli and Malik Zidi

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(Translated from French)

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