09/11/2020 - The 21st European Film Festival also awarded trophies to Disco, Scandinavian Silence, Sister and Lara, while the Cineuropa Prize went to Open Door

The French title Twelve Thousand [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] has been crowned Best Film at the 21st Lecce European Film Festival, an event which unfolded entirely online this year, between 31 October and 7 November, in full compliance with anti-Covid health regulations. Awarding the Golden Olive Tree to Nadège Trebal’s film, the jury presided over by Katriel Schory and composed of Beatrice Fiorentino, Mathilde Henrot, Antonio Saura and Mira Staleva also honoured Disco [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jorunn Myklebust Syversen
film profile] by Jorunn Myklebust Syversen for its screenplay and Scandinavian Silence [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Martti Helde
film profile] by Martti Helde for its photography. Meanwhile, Svetla Tsotsorkova’s Sister [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Svetla Tsotsorkova
film profile] and Jan-Ole Gerster’s Lara [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: GoCritic! Interview: Jan-Ol…
interview: Jan Ole Gerster
film profile] found themselves joint winners of the Special Jury Prize. The latter also claimed the SNGCI Award for Best European Actor, courtesy of Corinna Harfouch.

For its part, the Mario Verdone Award, which is now in its 11th year, was handed out by the Verdone brothers to Phaim Bhuiyan for Bangla [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], while the other principal prizes of this special edition of the Lecce festival - which recorded over 15,000 views by users hailing from 37 countries around the world - included the FIPRESCI Award which went to Kivanc Sezer’s La belle indifference and the Cineuropa Prize won by Florenc Papas’ Open Door [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Florenc Papas
film profile], the latter also walking away with the Audience Award.

“I am really happy with this year’s edition”, was director Alberto La Monica’s final comment. “Given that it was a first for us, it was an entirely unknown quantity, but I was pleasantly surprised by the way in which our regular audience followed us, sending us messages of love, and how an additional, ‘new’ audience joined us from all around the world, which can only be good for our event”.

The winners of the 21st Lecce European Film Festival are as follows:

Golden Olive Tree “Cristina Soldano Award for Best Film”
Twelve Thousand [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Nadège Trebal (France)

Best Screenplay
Disco [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jorunn Myklebust Syversen
film profile] - Jorunn Myklebust Syversen (Norway)

Best Photography
Scandinavian Silence [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Martti Helde
film profile] - Martti Helde (Estonia/France/Belgium)

Special Jury Award (tie)
Sister [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Svetla Tsotsorkova
film profile] - Svetla Tsotsorkova (Bulgaria/Qatar)
Lara [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: GoCritic! Interview: Jan-Ol…
interview: Jan Ole Gerster
film profile] - Jan-Ole Gerster (Germany)

Mario Verdone Award
Phaim Bhuiyan - Bangla [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Italy)

SNGCI Award for Best European Actor
Corinna Harfouch – Lara
Special Mention
Josefine Pettersen - Disco

FIPRESCI Prize
La belle indifference - Kivanc Sezer (Turkey)

Cineuropa Prize
Open Door [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Florenc Papas
film profile] - Florenc Papas (Albania)

Audience Award
Open Door - Florenc Papas

Emidio Greco Award
Amateur - Simone Bozzelli (Italy)

Puglia Show Award
Anche gli uomini hanno fame - Gabriele Licchelli, Francesco Lorusso, Andrea Settembrini (Italy)

RAI Cinema Channel Award
C’è di mezzo il mare - Davide Angiuli (Italy)

CGIL Award for Best Work-Based Short
Sottosuolo - Antonio Abbate (Italy)

Cinecibo ‘on tour’ Award
The Food Club [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] - Barbara Topsøe-Rothenborg (Denmark/Italy)

Apollonio 150 Award
Michele Venitucci - The Food Club

UNISALENTO Award
Senza tenere premuto - Paolo Strippoli (Italy)

Lecce Rotary Club Award
The Girl With A Bracelet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stéphane Demoustier
film profile] - Stéphane Demoustier (France/Belgium)

(Translated from Italian)