Banu Sivaci’s film gets five prizes
The Turkish film ‘The Pigeon’, Golden Palm of the 33 Mostra de València
The 33rd edition of Mostra de València-Cinema del Mediterrani comes to an end. The festival has returned, after six years of absence, to expand the imaginary of the cinema of the Mediterranean basin in our country. It is back to become a new reference for lovers of both emerging and legendary cinema, with a careful and dynamic audiovisual proposal as well as a space for reflection to rethink the Mediterranean. A firm proposal to prop up again in each edition.
The film ‘The pigeon’ by the Turkish director Banu Sivaci has won the Golden Palm, a prize worth € 25,000. A delicate and sensitive film about a young man who exists in the limits of society and manages to find an inner strength to face those who threaten him. ‘The Pigeon’, which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, portrays life on the margins and points to the name of Sivaci as a director to follow.
The jury, chaired by the producer, director and Lebanese actress Rana Salem, has considered that ‘The Pigeon’ deserves the Golden Palm “for its ability to extract visual and sound poetry from a hostile environment where the main character has to fight to deal with to be himself and preserve his individual freedom. ”
‘The Pigeon’, in addition, has managed to win the awards for Best Actor for the protagonist of the film Kemal Burak Alper; Best Screenplay, written by the director Banu Sivaci herself; Best Photography, by Arda Yildrian, and Best Soundtrack, composed by the sound artist Canset Özge Can.
The Silver Palm has been for the first Macedonian-Greek co-production “Secret Ingredient” by director Gjorce Stavreski, winner of the award for Best Direction. In the opinion of the jury “for the originality of the subject addressed and the ability to find the best ingredients to show the reality of the ailment with a sense of humor combining comedy and drama.” The medicinal powers of marijuana are not (at all) a secret and Gjorce Stavreski puts them on the table in this curious tragicomedy.
The Bronze Palm is for ‘Paper flags’, the film by the French director Nathan Ambrosioni. The young director, who is 19 years old, arrives at Mostra de València demonstrating a solid narrative domain in this story about the complicated encounter between a brother and a sister, marked by the difficulty of reintegration after a long stay in prison. This film, in addition, has won the Best Actress award for young Parisian Noémie Merlant.
For the jury of Mostra de València, ‘Paper flags’ is worthy of this Bronze Palm for “its ability to transmit emotions through resources that combine tension and tenderness, through characters capable of embodying their relationship of ambiguity, and through their generous way to lead “.
Under the Collaboration Agreement between À Punt Mèdia and Mostra de València, the À Punt Mèdia Award is given to “the Official Section film that best assumes the commitment to advance to equality between men and women”. The chosen one has been ‘Nome di donna’, of the director Marco Tullio Giordana, from a script of Cristiana Mainardi.
This Italian film deals with the subject of labor and sexual harassment from the perspective of women. Raised from a feminist point of view, ‘Nome di donna’ emphasizes the need for the empowerment of victims to exercise justice in law and extends it to the rest of their environment, family, work and society. It is a firm commitment to break the silence that surrounds many cases of harassment based on silence and connivance. This award implies the acquisition of emission rights by À Punt Mèdia.
The awards will be presented at the closing of this edition of Mostra de València-Cinema del Mediterrani, today October 26 at 8pm at the Palau de la Música.
The winning films can be seen during the 27th and 28th at Babel Cinemas.