In the Ponto de Encontro section, focused on “fictions offering an open dialogue with viewers,” the winner was ‘O Riso e a Faca’ by Pedro Pinho, while ‘Bulakna’ by Leonor Noivo won the award for best film in the Alquimias section, a “festival space for works of a surprising nature […] that demonstrate innovations in cinematographic language.”
In short films, ‘Cão Sozinho’ by Marta Reis Andrade received a Silver Spike, with the Gold Spike in this category awarded to ‘Living Stones’ by German director Jakob Ladányi Jancsó.
In a statement, the organization noted that the jury of the main competition (which included Portuguese João Pedro Rodrigues) awarded the Gold Spike ‘ex aequo’ to ‘Magalhães’ and ‘The Mastermind’ by Kelly Reichardt, marking the fourth time this has happened in the event’s history, after occurrences in 1963, 1971, and 1984.
‘Magalhães’ is a co-production between the Philippines, Spain, and Portugal (Rosa Filmes), with filming in Portugal. It is competing for an Oscar nomination for Best International Feature Film, representing the director’s native country.
‘Magalhães,’ which premiered in May in Cannes, stars Mexican actor Gael García Bernal as Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521), who embarked on the circumnavigation voyage and died in the Philippines.
The film, focusing on Magellan’s final months and interaction with the native population of the Philippines, also features actress Ângela Machado as Beatriz Barbosa, the navigator’s wife, alongside actors Tomás Alves, Rafael Morais, Ivo Arroja, Valdemar Santos, among others.
‘O Riso e a Faca’ reached Portuguese cinemas this week, as Pedro Pinho’s second fiction feature, having premiered in May at the Cannes Film Festival in France, garnering actress Cleo Diára an acting award.
‘Bulakna’ is the directorial debut of Leonor Noivo and “follows Filipino women currently facing a new form of colonization: forced migration for work,” according to producer Terratreme Filmes.
‘Cão Sozinho’ is based on “the true story of a dog abandoned in its own home, during a time when my grandfather began experiencing widowhood, and I was returning from London, a place where I felt more alone than ever,” according to the synopsis.
Produced by the animation cinema cooperative BAP Animation Studios in co-production with France, ‘Cão Sozinho’ was awarded in July at a film festival in Kosovo and received other special mentions at festivals in Croatia.
