The sophomore feature by French director-screenwriter Samuel Theis, Softie [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Samuel Theis
scheda film], has won the “Theo Angelopoulos” Golden Alexander for Best Feature Film at the 62^nd Thessaloniki International Film Festival, which ran from 4-14 November both physically and online.

The international jury, comprising Dutch writer-director Nanouk Leopold, Serbian-American sound designer Roland Vajs and Swiss actress Michelle Valley, handed the €10,000 cash prize to the coming-of-age drama in which ten-year-old Johnny, portrayed by Aliocha Reinert – who for this performance also received the Best Actor Award – stands out from the rest of his family and his tough neighbourhood in Eastern France.

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The second prize, the Special Jury Award – Silver Alexander, valued at €5,000, was bestowed upon Clara Sola [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Nathalie Álvarez Mesén
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intervista: Jacqueline Lentzou
scheda film]. Finally, the Best Screenplay Award was bestowed upon Pilgrims [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Laurynas Bareisa
scheda film], written and directed by Laurynas Bareiša, while What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Alexandre Koberidze
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In the Meet the Neighbors competition, Small Body [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Laura Samani
scheda film] by Laura Samani received the section’s Golden Alexander, for being a “remarkable journey of a woman to save the soul of her daughter”. The Silver Alexander in this section was bestowed ex-aequo upon the films The Tale of King Crab [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Alessio Rigo de Righi e Ma…
scheda film] by Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis, “which takes us from a very earthy naturalism to a surrealistic showdown at the end of the world”, and to Vera Dreams of the Sea [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Kaltrina Krasniqi
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As for the newly established >>Film Forward Competition section, the Golden Alexander was given to Magnetic Fields [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Yorgos Goussis, for “narrating the adventure of an encounter through adventurous filmmaking in a free-flowing and humanistic way”. The film also earned itself the FIPRESCI Award, the Greek Association of Film Critics’ Award, the Greek Film Centre Award and the Hellenic Film Commission Best Location Award. The Silver Alexander went to The Day Today [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Maxence Stamatiadis, for “depicting in the most sensible and singular way our relationship with technology as a possible future and also a raw present”. A Special Mention was given to Superior by Erin Vassilopoulos, for “its personal and daring exploration of genre mechanisms”.

Finally, the festival also explored the parallels between cinema and podcasts, and it consequently gave the Best Podcast Award to The Letters I Have Read About Her by Stratis Chatzielenoudas, while the section’s Special Mention was given to the podcast My Suburb by Camilla Bouchet.

Here is the complete list of winners at the 62^nd Thessaloniki International Film Festival:

International Competition

Best Feature Film Award - “Theo Angelopoulos” Golden Alexander
Softie [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Samuel Theis
scheda film] - Samuel Theis (France)

Special Jury Award - Silver Alexander
Clara Sola [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Nathalie Álvarez Mesén
scheda film] - Nathalie Álvarez Mesén (Sweden/Costa Rica/Belgium/Germany/USA)

Special Jury Award for Best Director - Bronze Alexander
Lorenzo Vigas – The Box (Mexico/USA)

Best Actress Award
Sofia Kokkali - Moon, 66 Questions [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Jacqueline Lentzou
scheda film] (Greece/France)

Best Actor Award
Aliocha Reinert - Softie

Best Screenplay Award
Pilgrims [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Laurynas Bareisa
scheda film] - Laurynas Bareiša (Lithuania)
Special Mention
What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Alexandre Koberidze
scheda film] - Alexandre Koberidze (Germany/Georgia)

Meet the Neighbors Competition

Best Feature Film Award - Golden Alexander
Small Body [+leggi anche:
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trailer
intervista: Laura Samani
scheda film] - Laura Samani (Italy/France/Slovenia)

Special Jury Award - Silver Alexander (ex aequo)
The Tale of King Crab [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Alessio Rigo de Righi e Ma…
scheda film] - Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis (Italy/France/Argentina)
Vera Dreams of the Sea [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Kaltrina Krasniqi
scheda film] - Kaltrina Krasniqi (Kosovo/North Macedonia/Albania)

>>Film Forward Competition

Best Feature Film Award - Golden Alexander
Magnetic Fields - Yorgos Goussis (Greece)

Special Jury Award - Silver Alexander
The Day Today [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Maxence Stamatiadis (France)
Special Mention
Superior - Erin Vassilopoulos (USA)

Podcast Competition

Podcast Award
The Letters I Have Read About Her - Stratis Chatzielenoudas (Greece)
Special Mention
My Suburb - Camilla Bouchet (Sweden)

Other awards

Greek Film Centre Award
Magnetic Fields - Yorgos Goussis

Hellenic Film Commission Best Location Award
Marinos Sklavounakis - Magnetic Fields

Human Values Award
The Rust [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Juan Sebastián Mesa (Colombia/France)

JF Costopoulos Foundation Award (ex aequo)
18 - Vassilis Douvlis (Greece)
Holy Emy [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Araceli Lemos
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Mermaid Award
Celts [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Milica Tomovic
scheda film] - Milica Tomovic (Serbia)
Special Mentions
Moneyboys [+leggi anche:
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intervista: C.B. Yi
scheda film] - CB Yi (Austria/France/Taiwan/Belgium)
Private Desert [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Aly Muritiba
scheda film] - Aly Muritiba (Brazil/Portugal)

FIPRESCI awards

Best Film in the International Competition
Silent Land [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Aga Woszczyńska
scheda film] - Aga Woszczyńska (Poland/Italy/Czech Republic)

Best Film in the Greek Film Festival
Magnetic Fields - Yorgos Goussis

Greek Association of Film Critics’ Award
Magnetic Fields - Yorgos Goussis

WIFT Award
Holy Emy - Araceli Lemos

Youth jury awards

Best Feature Film Award
Echoes of the Past - Nicholas Dimitropoulos (Greece)

Special Youth Jury Award
.Dog [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Yianna Americanou (Cyprus/Greece)