The Famous And The Dead claims best picture prize at Rio

Best known for shorts such as Saliva and Something Like That, Filho earned the best picture award last night [October 8] for his first feature film at the Premiere Brasil awards ceremony at the historic Odeon Petrobras cinema.

The Famous And The Dead was also named best film of the festival by the FIPRESCI jury and is scheduled to open in theatres in Brazil on November 6 through Warner Bros.

Directors Marcelo Games and Karim Ainouz received the best director award for I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You, a journey to the remote Brazilian Northeast that screened in Venice Horizons recently.

The road movie mixes documentary and fictional elements and also earned Heloisa Passos the best cinematography prize.

Trofeu Redentor, the award inspired by the statue of Christ The Redeemer, went to Nanda Costa, named best actress for her portrait of a teenage prostitute in Sandra Werneck’s Stolen Dreams.

Chico Diaz and Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos shared the best actor award for their partnership in Eliane Caffé’s The Midday Sun, a journey that reveals the scars of a passionate crime.

The Premiere Brasil official jury was headed this year by the Argentinean director Fernando Solanas and included the German producer Roman Paul, the French producer Francois Sauvagnargues, the Brazilian director Helena Solberg and Brazilian actress Julia Lemmertz.

Werneck’s Stolen Dreams won best picture in the audience awards, while Tatiana Issa and Raphael Alvarez’ Dzi Croquettes earned the best documentary award and Clovis Mello’s Sildenafil won the best short category.

Winners of Premiere Brazil 2009

Best Picture – The Famous And The Dead

Best Director – Karim Ainouz and Marcelo Gomes for I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You

Best Actor – Tie between Chico Diaz and Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos for The Midday Sun.

Honorary Mention for Actor– Fulvio Stefanini for Cabeca A Premio

Best Actress – Nanda Costa for Stolen Dreams

Best Supporting Actress– Cassia Kiss for The Tenants (Don’t Like It, Leave)

Best Supporting Actor– Gero Camilo for Hotel Atlantico

Best Screenplay – Beatriz Bracher for The Tenants (Don’t Like It, Leave)

Best Documentary – Tie between Dzi Croquettes by Tatiana Issa and Raphael Alvarez and Reidy, Building Utopia by Ana Maria Magalhaes

Best Editing – Renato Martins for Tamboro

Best Cinematography – Heloisa Passos for I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You and for O Amor Segundo b. Schianberg

Special Jury Prize – Tamboro by Sergio Bernardes

Best Short – Undertow Eyes by Petra Costa

Honorary Mention (Short) – Sildenafil by Clovis Mello

Audience Awards:

Best Picture – Stolen Dreams by Sandra Werneck

Best Documentary – Dzi Croquettes by Tatiana Issa and Raphael Alvarez

Best Short – Sildenafil by Clovis Mello

FIPRESCI Award

The Famous And The Dead