Michelangelo Frammartino’s Le Quatro Volte has won the Europa Cinemas Label as Best European Film in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

Michelangelo Frammartino’s Le Quatro Volte has won the Europa Cinemas Label as Best European Film in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

The Italian film is about an elderly goatherder.

The jury said: “This is a beautifully evocative, humorous and subtle look at life and nature in deepest rural Italy. Never didactic or sentimental, the director takes creative risks and manages to pull them off. At a time when original film-making is so threatened, we feel it is entirely appropriate to award the Europa Cinemas Label to Le Quattro Volte, and to offer European audiences the opportunity of enjoying such a life-affirming view of a remote corner of our continent.”

A Vivo Film production, the film was co-produced by Essential Filmproduktion (Germany), Invisible Film (Italy) and Ventura Film (Switzerland). The Coproduction Office handles international sales.

Four exhibitors comprised the jury: Kwangmo Lee (South Korea), Line Daugbjerg Christensen (Denmark); Margit Vremmert (Estonia); and Claus Philipp (Austria).

The film now gets the support and extra promotion from the 800+ cinemas in the Europa Cinemas exhibition network.

The Europa Cinemas prize is now in its eighth year.