Eléonore Weber’s There Will Be No More Night strikes gold at Novos Cinemas
- European entries A Storm Was Coming, For the Time Being and The Trouble with Nature also departed triumphant from the fifth incarnation of the Galician festival
Back for a fifth year, the Novos Cinemas Pontevedra International Film Festival (15–20 December) rose to the challenges of 2020 with a hybrid format, combining screenings at the Teatro Principal de Pontevdra and on the streaming platform Filmin. This year’s programme shone a special spotlight on filmmaker Luis López Carrasco (The Year of Discovery [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), with the honour of opening the proceedings granted to Lois Patiño’s Lúa [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lois Patiño
film profile] Vermella [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lois Patiño
film profile]. Six days packed with screenings, activities and discussions concluded with this year’s closing film, My Mexican Bretzel [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nuria Giménez
film profile] by Nuria Giménez Lorang.
The Official Jury, comprising filmmakers and programme directors Pela del Álamo, Elena Duque and Nuria Giménez herself, ultimately bestowed the Novos Cinemas Award for Best Film in the Official Selection to There Will Be No More Night [+see also:
film review
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film profile], directed by Eléonore Weber. A documentary crafted from footage taken from US and French military helicopters, Weber’s film was described by the jury as “a film that, through a restrained and tightly honed narration, invites a layered reflection on individual fragility, the relationships between North and South and the new currency of image.” A special mention was awarded to animated film Accidental Luxuriance of the Translucent Watery Rebus [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dalibor Baric
film profile], created by Croatian filmmaker Dalibor Baric.
The Latexos Jury, formed of representatives from the NUMAX, Zumzeig and DUPLEX cinema chains and Madrid’s Círculo de Bellas Artes (Xan Viñas, Albert Triviño, Ramiro Ledo and Manuel Asín, respectively), chose to give the Latexo Award to A Storm Was Coming [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Javier Fernández Vázquez
film profile], directed by Javier Fernández: “a ground-breaking bid to restore the memory of Spain’s colonial past and its impacts on Equatorial Guinea, which reverberate through history into our own time.” The winner of the Critics’ Award, selected by the Spanish journalists Mariona Borrull, Toni Junyent and Ángel Suanzes, was For the Time Being [+see also:
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film profile] by Spanish–German director Salka Tiziana, “for its bold portrait of an absence that gathers in the cracks of an oppressive familial environment.” Meanwhile, the Audience Award went to Dramarama, by Jonathan Wysocki (USA).
Finally, the Xurado Novo (Youth Jury), made up of University of Vigo students Alba Domínguez, Fernando Areal, Miguel Gómez, María Ramos and Ángeles Vidal, declared Denmark’s Illum Jacobi the most impressive director in the Official Section. Jacobi’s entry, The Trouble with Nature [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], stood out “for the deft management of its material and its capacity to convey a great deal with very little.” The French film There Will Be No More Night also received a nod in the form of a special mention.
The full list of winners at this fifth edition of Novos Cinemas:
Novos Cinemas Best Film Award
There Will Be No More Night [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] – Eléonore Weber (France)
Special Mention, International Jury
Accidental Luxuriance of the Translucent Watery Rebus [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dalibor Baric
film profile] – Dalibor Baric (Croatia)
Latexos Award for Best Film
A Storm Was Coming [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Javier Fernández Vázquez
film profile] – Javier Fernández (Spain)
Critics’ Award
For the Time Being [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Salka Tiziana (Germany/Spain/Switzerland)
Xurado Novo Award for Best Director in the Official Section
Illum Jacobi – The Trouble with Nature [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Denmark/France)
Special Mention, Xurado Novo
There Will Be No More Night – Eléonore Weber
Audience Award
Dramarama – Jonathan Wysocki (USA)
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