The Rio Film Festival handed out last Tuesday the Redentor awards for its Premiere Brazil competition of local films, dominated in the fiction category by Gabriel Mascaro‘s Neon Bull, which swept the board collecting best film, best screenplay, best cinematography and best actress. It is the latest festival success for Recife new wave director Mascaro’s muscular tale of a changing rural Brazil that previously took the Venice Orizzonti’s special jury prize.
Selected from 13 feature films, seven feature-length documentaries and 10 shorts in competition, the Premiere Brazil competition was evaluated by a jury composed of jury president Walter Carvalho, Christian Sida-Valenzuela, exec director of the Vancouver LatAm Film Festival and assistant coordinator at Festival De Cine Mexicano De Durango, U.S. producer and director Alan Poul, sales agent Pape Boye and director Vivian Ostrovsky.
New talent was in the spotlight throughout the awards evening, with first time writer/directors Ives Rosenfeld (Hopefuls) and Anita Rocha da Silveira (Kill Me Please) sharing a best director prize. Both films also saw their newcomer cast recognized: Valentina Herszage was chosen for best actress for her role in Kill Me Please, whereas Ariclenes Barroso and Julia Bernat won best actor and best supporting actress for their roles in Hopefuls. Neon Bull‘s Alyne Santana was, along with Bernat, also awarded best supporting actress. Caio Horowicz won best supporting actor for California.
The special jury award went instead to veteran filmmaker Ruy Guerra for Oblivious Memory.
Top prize in the festivals’ New Trends section was presented to Seashore, directed by Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon, which received the best film award. It was a second straight win for the film, praised for “elegantly bringing to the fore the melancholy and solitude of that all-too complicated coming-of-age process.” Days earlier, the film was awarded the special jury prize in this year’s Felix awards, a recently created prize that recognizes LGBTQ related works in the festival. Felix awards were also given to Sean Baker‘s Tangerine, for best fiction film, and Aldo Garay‘s The New Man, for best documentary.
The Felix Awards also celebrated its first Suzy Capó Felix Personality of the Year Award, given to 72 year-old transgender TV actress and personality Rogeria. The award was named after the late Rio Festival programmer and journalist, and will be given each year hence to “an individual recognized for their positive contribution to the world of the Brazilian LGBTQ communities,” according to a festival statement.
The Rio Film Festival ran Oct. 1 – 14, screening over 250 international and local films in more than 20 locations around the city, with almost 300,000 tickets sold, according to a festival statement.
Full awards are listed below.
Premiere Brazil
I. Best Fiction Feature
Neon Bull, directed by Gabriel Mascaro
(Brazil, Uruguay, Netherlands. 2015)
II. Best Feature Length Documentary
Olmo and The Seagull, directed by Petra Costa and Lea Glob
(Brazil, Denmark, Portugal, France. 2015)
III. Best Short
Bird Skin, directed by Clara Peltier
(Brazil, Germany. 2015)
IV. Best Director, Fiction
– Shared –
Anita Rocha da Silveira, for Kill Me Please
(Brazil, Argentina. 2015)
and
Ives Rosenfeld for Hopefuls
(Brazil, 2015)
V. Best Director, Documentary
Maria Augusta Ramos, for Future June
(Brazil, 2015)
VI. Best Actress
Valentina Herszage, for Kill Me Please
VII. Best Actor
Ariclenes Barroso, for Hopefuls
VIII. Best Supporting Actress
– Shared –
Alyne Santana, for Neon Bull
and
Julia Bernat, for Hopefuls
IX. Best Supporting Actor
Caio Horowicz, for California
X. Best Cinematography
Diego Garcia, for Neon Bull
XI. Best Editing
Sergio Mekler, for Campo Grande
XII. Best Screenplay
Gabriel Mascaro, for Neon Bull
XIII. Special Jury Prize
Oblivious Memory, directed by Ruy Guerra
(Brazil, 2015 – World Premiere)
Premiere Brazil – New Trends
I. Best Feature Film
Seashore
Directed by Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon
(Brazil, 2015)
II. Best Short
October Is Over
Directed by Karen Akerman and Miguel Seabra Lopes
(Brazil/Portugal, 2015)
III. Special Jury Prize
Jonah
(Brazil, 2015)
Audience Awards
I. Best Fiction Feature
Nise the Heart of Madness, directed by Roberto Berliner
II. Best Feature Length Documentary
Betinho – Hope on the Line, directed by Victor Lopes
III. Best Short
Sheeliton, directed by Marão
FIPRESCI Award for Best Latin American Film
Written and directed by Julio Hernández Cordón (Mexico / Germany, 2015)
