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FESTIVALS / AWARDS France

Maura Delpero bags the Young Talent Women in Motion Award

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- The Maternal director joins the ranks of previous women selected by the initiative, which is sponsored by Kering in partnership with the Cannes Film Festival with a view to supporting young filmmakers

Maura Delpero bags the Young Talent Women in Motion Award
Director Maura Delpero

Despite the cancellation of this year’s Cannes Film Festival on account of anti-Covid restrictions, Kering and the Cannes Film Festival were nonetheless keen to hand out their Young Talent Women In Motion Award, which was first introduced in 2015 and is aimed at providing support (in the form of €50,000) for works by young women directors trying to forge a path in the film industry.

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As such, Italian filmmaker Maura Delpero, who drew copious attention with her first fiction feature Maternal [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maura Delpero
film profile
]
(which notably walked away with a Special Jury Prize in Locarno), now joins the ranks of previous winners of the award, which has formerly distinguished Tunisia’s Leyla Bouzid, Syria’s Gaya Jiji, Iran’s Ida Panahandeh, Palestine’s Maysaloun Hamoud, Spain’s Carla Simón and Germany’s Eva Trobisch. And, as tradition dictates, it was the latter who singled out the winner of this year’s trophy.

According to Maura Delpero, "appreciation of talent and financial recognition: it is precisely this which generations of women have been excluded from! I wish my grandmother were still alive so that I could talk to her about the Young Talents Women In Motion Award. She would be so shocked to see how the world is changing! This award is really important to me, both personally and politically. And the fact that I was chosen by another woman creates a deep and subtle bond; it’s a concrete means to promoting mutual respect between women and to remedying the inequalities at work in the industry."

"It was, of course, impossible for the 73rd edition of the Cannes Film Festival to unfold in its original form, but we couldn’t have allowed 2020 to become a blank year for cinemas and film creation", stressed Pierre Lescure, the president of the riviera-based event. "We’re grateful to our partners for being there to support the seventh art and for their commitment towards women in the field." It’s a conviction which is fully endorsed by Cannes’ director Thierry Frémaux: "After a year marked by so many cancellations and frustrations, it’s wonderfully symbolic to maintain this award. This year, more than ever, it has proven crucial to value and recognise the contribution of young female talent, thereby continuing the battle to drive the entire profession ever-closer towards equality."

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(Translated from French)

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