Miguel Gomes’ film “Grand Tour” is among the first 29 works selected for the European Film Awards, the organization announced today.
Also on the list is “Misericórdia”, by Frenchman Alain Guiraudie, with Portuguese co-production by Rosa Filmes.
In a statement, the European Film Academy recalled that the selection was made by a panel, consulting various European experts, and that it is from this list that the nominees for the awards, which will be presented in December in Switzerland, will be drawn.
The remaining selected films will be announced in September and the nominations revealed on November 5th.
The story of “Grand Tour” follows an early 20th century romance with Edward (Gonçalo Waddington), a civil servant in the British Empire who runs away from his fiancée Molly (Crista Alfaiate) on the day she arrives for the wedding.
“Contemplating the emptiness of his existence, the cowardly Edward wonders what happened to Molly… Challenged by Edward’s impulse and determined to marry him, Molly follows the trail of her fiancé on the run through this Asian ‘Grand Tour’,” says the synopsis.
Miguel Gomes has already won the prize for best director at this year’s Cannes Film Festival with “Grand Tour”, an unprecedented achievement for Portuguese cinema.
In preparation for this film, even before the covid-19 pandemic, Miguel Gomes made a travel archive through Asia – for example, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Vietnam, Thailand, Japan – to trace the characters’ paths, collecting contemporary images and sounds for a 1918 period feature film.
Only after this tour did Miguel Gomes shoot the scenes with the actors in a studio in Rome. The script was co-written by the filmmaker with Mariana Ricardo, Telmo Churro and Maureen Fazendeiro.
“What’s interesting about cinema is that you can travel to an alternative world, a fictional world that contains all times; the memories of the past, the current time in which we live, the present,” said Miguel Gomes at a press conference in Cannes.
“Grand Tour” was produced by Uma Pedra no Sapato, by Filipa Reis, in co-production with Italy, France, Germany, China and Japan.
