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VALENCIA 2021 Awards

The Mostra de València hands its Golden Palm to Bosnia’s So She Doesn’t Live

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- The top prize has gone to Faruk Loncarevic’s movie, while second place was claimed by France’s The World After Us, the feature debut by Louda Ben Salah-Cazanas

The Mostra de València hands its Golden Palm to Bosnia’s So She Doesn’t Live
So She Doesn’t Live by Faruk Loncarevic

The international jury – chaired by French actress-writer-director Myriam Mézières, and also made up of Spanish producer Marina Perales Marhuenda, French composer Jean-Michel Bernard, Palestinian filmmaker Najwa Najjar, and Tunisian author and film theorist Tarek Ben Chaabane – considered the brutal tale So She Doesn't Live [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
(a production by Bosnia and Herzegovina) by Faruk Loncarevic to be deserving of the Golden Palm, an award endowed with €25,000, and the top prize of the 36th edition of the Mostra de València – Cinema del Mediterrani. The reasoning behind this decision was that it “required the audience to adopt an active attitude, and offered a reflection on a society that has not recovered from the violence of the past and that, for that very reason, is condemned to repeat it over and over again”. 

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The Silver Palm, worth €15,000, was bestowed upon the French movie The World After Us [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Louda Ben Salah-Cazanas
film profile
]
, the feature debut by Louda Ben Salah-Cazanas, who offers up a shrewd generational portrait with a pronounced social emphasis. In the jury’s opinion, it was deserving of the prize “for its totally honest treatment of intimate relations, introducing a seemingly light poetic burden, which is actually laden with complexity".

In accordance with the cooperation agreement between TV channel À Punt and the Mostra de València, the À Punt Audience Award is given out to a film in the Informative Section that is deemed to be the best by those attending the festival’s screenings: the lucky winner was Broken Keys, a Lebanese production directed by Jimmy Keyrouz. The feature is set in 2014, in a Middle Eastern city besieged by a group of ISIS extremists who have banned all modern ways of life and contemporary music. The award entails the acquisition of broadcasting rights by À Punt Mèdia.

Furthermore, the jury gave out the following trophies: Best Director to Alex Camilleri for his work on Luzzu [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alex Camilleri
film profile
]
; Best Screenplay to Sonia Liza Kenterman and Tracy Sunderland for their efforts on Tailor [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sonia Liza Kenterman
film profile
]
, which also earned Dimitris Imellos the Best Actor Award and composer Nikos Kypourgos the Best Soundtrack Award; Best Actress to Bassant Ahmed and Basmala Elghaiesh, who won ex aequo for Souad [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
; and Best Cinematography to Dusan Joksimovic for lensing Heavens Above [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Srđan Dragojević
film profile
]
.

The presentation of the awards took place during the closing ceremony of this 36th edition of the event, which was held on 22 October in La Rambleta. In addition to the aforementioned prizewinners, French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet received the Honorary Palm for his lifetime achievement, including standout titles such as The City of Lost Children, A Very Long Engagement and Amélie [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
.

Here is the full list of award winners:

Golden Palm
So She Doesn't Live [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
– Faruk Loncarevic (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Silver Palm
The World After Us [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Louda Ben Salah-Cazanas
film profile
]
- Louda Ben Salah-Cazanas (France)

À Punt Audience Award
Broken Keys - Jimmy Keyrouz (Lebanon)

Best Director
Alex Camilleri - Luzzu [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alex Camilleri
film profile
]
(Malta/USA)

Best Screenplay
Sonia Liza Kenterman and Tracy Sunderland - Tailor [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sonia Liza Kenterman
film profile
]
(Greece/Germany/Belgium)

Best Actress
Bassant Ahmed and Basmala Elghaiesh – Souad [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(Egypt/Tunisia/Germany)

Best Actor
Dimitris Imellos – Tailor

Best Cinematography
Dusan Joksimovic - Heavens Above [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Srđan Dragojević
film profile
]
(Serbia/Germany/North Macedonia/Slovenia/Croatia/Montenegro/Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Best Soundtrack
Nikos Kypourgos – Tailor

Honrary Palm
Jean-Pierre Jeunet

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(Translated from Spanish)

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