Spanning 3 to 13 March, overseen by Gladys Lazareff (CEO) and Alexis Juncosa (artistic director), and recently enhanced by a new president in the form of former ambassador and renowned name in Luxembourg’s diplomatic circles Georges Santer, the Luxembourg City Film Festival has just wrapped its 12th edition, with encouraging results of 16,000 viewers (10,000 of whom travelled to cinemas) recently announced by the organisers.

Ultimately, it was Atlantide [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Yuri Ancarani
intervista: Yuri Ancarani e Marco Alessi
scheda film] by video artist Yuri Ancarani which garnered the most favour among the International Jury: revealing Venice as never before seen on screen, the film walked away with the Orange Grand Prize to the tune of €10,000. Presided over by Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman, the jury praised this "poetic film offering a sensorial experience and boasting a visceral and audacious film direction approach". For the record, Suleiman was joined by British director and actress Ana Lily Amirpour, Quebecker actress Suzanne Clément, French-Luxembourg composer André Dziezuk, French director of photography Jeanne Lapoirie and French-Argentine actor Nahuel Pérez Biscayart.

The Documentary Jury, meanwhile, rationalised its decision as follows: "We were most impressed by an intimate viewing experience in which a hero and a filmmaker emerge in a story which spans three continents. Our choice was based upon the way in which this film conveys humanity to the audience. We chose Qué será del verano by Ignacio Ceroi." The story speaks of the peregrinations of an Argentine director holidaying in France who buys a lightweight camera online from a man from Toulouse. He discovers pre-existing videos on the device and decides to make a film about them…

For their part, festival viewers decided to award the Audience Prize to Iranian filmmaker Panah Panahi’s first feature film, Hit the Road, which was one of the 2021 Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight’s most beautiful revelations in 2021. Luxembourg Aid and Development awarded its very first 2030 Prize to Aya [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Simon Coulibaly Gillard
scheda film], a debut feature film by Simon Coulibaly Gillard (likewise revealed at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021, within the ACID selection, to which Luxembourg dedicated a wonderful Focus this year, whose showcase also included Down With The King by Diego Ongaro and I Comete – A Corsican Summer [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Pascal Tagnati
scheda film] by Pascal Tagnati). And Panahi’s movie also jointly won the Critics’ Prize awarded by the Press Jury, alongside Prayers for the Stolen [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Salvadoran and Mexican director Tatiana Huezo.

Moving on to the young people’s prizes, the Youth Jury Award was snaffled by Eefje Blankevoort and Els van Driel’s Shadow Game, while Ari Folman’s Where Is Anne Frank! [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ari Folman
scheda film] scooped the School Jury Prize and Amanda Adolfsson’s Nelly Rapp – Monster Agent [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] ingratiated itself with the Children’s Jury. These three awards emphasise the festival’s stalwart commitment to film education and to the school workshops which get bigger and better each year.

Last but not least, the Virtual Reality and New Writing Jury – which is another of the festival’s major raisons d’être – decided to bestow its double prize upon Goliath: Playing With Reality by Barry Gene Murphy and May Abdalla, and We Are At Home by Michelle and Uri Kranot.

The full list of winners is as follows:

Orange Luxembourg Grand Prize
Atlantide [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Yuri Ancarani
intervista: Yuri Ancarani e Marco Alessi
scheda film] - Yuri Ancarani (Italy/France/USA/Qatar)

BGL BNP Paribas Documentary Award
Qué será del verano - Ignacio Ceroi (Argentina)

Luxembourg Aid & Development 2030 Award
Aya [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Simon Coulibaly Gillard
scheda film] - Simon Coulibaly Gillard (Belgium/France)
Special Mention
Prayers for the Stolen [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Tatiana Huezo (Mexico/Germany/Brazil/Switzerland/USA)

Orange Luxembourg Audience Award
Hit the Road - Panah Panahi (Iran)

Critics Award (ex-aequo)
Hit the Road - Panah Panahi
Prayers for the Stolen - Tatiana Huezo

Kinepolis Youth Jury Award
Shadow Game - Eefje Blankevoort, Els van Driel (the Netherlands)
Special Mention
You Resemble Me [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Dina Amer
scheda film] - Dina Amer (Egypt/France/USA)

School Jury Award
Where Is Anne Frank! [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Ari Folman (Belgium/Luxembourg/France/Netherlands/Israel)

Children’s Jury Award
Nelly Rapp – Monster Agent [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Amanda Adolfsson (Sweden)

VR Award (ex-aequo)
Goliath: Playing With Reality - Barry Gene Murphy, May Abdalla
We Are At Home - Michelle & Uri Kranot