The Colombian road movie “Los Reyes del Mundo” (“The Kings of the World”) was awarded the “Golden Shell” for best festival entry at the 70th San Sebastian International Film Festival on Saturday evening. The pedophilia film “Sparta” by the Austrian filmmaker Ulrich Seidl meanwhile went empty-handed in the official competition.
In “The Kings of the World” the Colombian director Laura Mora tells the gripping story of five street children from Medellín who live in a world of drugs, violence, robbery and social contempt. One day, Rá, one of the boys, receives news that the government wants to give him back a piece of land that paramilitaries took away from his recently deceased grandmother.
Together with his friends, his only family, Rá embarks on a dangerous journey into the conflict-ridden hinterland of Colombia in order to finally be able to live in peace and security. With powerful images, highly emotional moments and a poetic narrative form characterized almost by “magical realism”, the director not only illuminates aspects such as solidarity, brotherhood and the demand for justice. It also deals with current political issues such as the violence in Colombia, dealing with the guerrilla past and the difficult return of land to the victims of the conflict.
“I hope that with this film I can contribute something to the conversation from a symbolic and poetic point of view,” explained Laura Mora in San Sebastian. “Through the cinema I learned that violence isn’t everything. There are people who don’t always think about evil, but have dreams and plans for life,” said Cristian Campaña, one of the five amateur actors, who are all real street children from Medellín.
Meanwhile, Spanish amateur actress Carla Quilez from the teenage parenting drama “La Maternal” and French up-and-coming actor Paul Kircher in his role in the bereavement drama “Winter Boy” directed by Christophe Honoré were awarded the “Silver Shell” for “best acting”. ” appreciated. The “Silver Shell” for best performance by a supporting actor went to Argentinian Renata Lerman from the youth drama “El suplente”.
Japanese filmmaker Genki Kawamura received the “Best Director” award for his highly sensitive, poetic dementia film “A Hundred Flowers”. The prize for the “best screenplay” went to the Chinese festival entry “A Woman” by Wang Chao.
American actress Marian Mathias has meanwhile been awarded the coveted Special Jury Prize for the originality and ambition of her feature film debut “Runner”. Manuel Abramovich’s Argentinian film “Pornomelancolía” won the award for “Best Photography”.
In the “New Directors” competition, which is endowed with 20,000 euros, the young French filmmakers Jeanne Aslan and Paul Saintillan prevailed with their feature film debut “Fifi” about a complicated childhood love.
The prize in the “Horizontes Latinos” category went to “Tengo sueños electricos” by Valentina Maurel from Costa Rica. For years, the San Sebastian Festival has seen itself as a bridge between Latin American and European film and is therefore even dedicating a separate side series to Latin American cinema.
As expected, the Audience Award, worth 50,000 euros, went to the Argentinean thriller “Argentina 1985”. It is about the difficult and polemical condemnation of the bloody Argentine military junta in 1985 and the victory of democracy. Director Santiago Miter stages the most important court case in Argentine history as a gripping and at the same time humorous legal thriller and lets the charismatic main actor Ricardo Darín show off all his skills.
Mikel Gurrea’s feature film debut “Suro” received the prestigious FIPRESCI Film Critics’ Award. The focus of the film is the young architect couple Elena and Ivan. Looking for a new start, they leave the metropolis of Barcelona to move to rural Catalonia, where they take over a cork oak plantation. Softly and subtly, Gurrea addresses the conflict between town and country, desire and reality, and clashing gender roles.
Cult Canadian director David Cronenberg and French actress Juliette Binoche were honored with this year’s Donostia Festival Honors for their careers. Alongside Cronenberg and Binoche, numerous other international stars such as Penelope Cruz, Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, Olivia Wilde and Ana de Armas shone on the red carpet in front of the Kursaal of the northern Spanish coastal town for the 70th anniversary edition. film adaptation “Blonde” presented. Alongside Cannes, Berlin and Venice, San Sebastian is one of the world’s most important film festivals.