Colombian director Laura Mora’s second film The Kings Of The World has won the Golden Shell award for best film at the 70th edition of the San Sebastian International Film Festival (SSIFF).
Scroll down for full list of winners
A Colombian co-production with Luxembourg, France, Mexico and Norway, the film follows five street kids from Medellin who venture into the countryside in search of the land that one of them inherited. Film Factory Entertainment handles international sales. Mora’s debut was 2017 Toronto and San Sebastian selection Killing Jesus.
The award means another female director has won the top prize at a major festival this year, following Carla Simón’s win in Berlin with Alcarràs and Laura Poitras’ Golden Lion in Venice for All The Beauty And The Bloodshed. It is also a third Golden Shell in a row for a woman director after Dea Kulumbegashvili’s Beginning in 2020 and Alina Grigore’s Blue Moon last year.
Other awards in SSIFF’s main competition saw the Silver Shell for best director go to Japan’s Genki Kawamura for A Hundred Flowers, with the special jury award won by Marian Mathias’s Runner. Both were debut features.
The festival’s non-gender specific acting prize (first launched last year) went ex-aequo to two young performers: Carla Quílez for La Maternal, as a teenager facing an unwanted pregnancy; and Paul Kircher for Winter Boy, directed by Christophe Honoré, for playing an adolescent confronting the loss of his father. The Silver Shell for best supporting performance went to the also very young Renata Lerman for The Substitute. She is the daughter of the film’s director, Diego Lerman.
China’s A Woman won the best screenplay award for Dong Yun Zhou and director Wang Chao for its depiction of a woman´s experience over several years in late 20th century China, while the best cinematography prize went to Manuel Abramovich, both DoP and director of Pornomelancolía, about the daily life of a gay porn star.
The jury was led by Argentinian producer Matías Mosteirín after original jury president Glenn Close had to cancel her trip shortly before the festival started due to a family emergency. It also comprised French casting director and filmmaker Antoinette Boulat, Danish director and screenwriter Tea Lindeburg, Spanish writer and journalist Rosa Montero, filmmaker and visual artist from Lesotho Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, and Icelandic director and screenwriter Hlynur Pálmason.
The audience award went to Santiago Mitre’s Venice-premiered courtroom drama Argentina 1985. The audience award for best European film went to Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s Cannes Premiere selection The Beasts.
The Kutxabank-New Directors award for the best first or second film, which comes with 50,000 euros to share between the director and the company that distributes the film in Spain, went to French production Spare Keys, directed by Jeanne Aslan and Paul Saintillan. Special mention was given to Parth Saurabh’s Indian debut feature On Either Sides Of The Pond.
The closing film was Neil Jordan’s Marlowe, based on a new take on Raymond Chandler’s detective from John Banville’s novel, co-written by William Monahan and Jordan. The title role is played by Liam Neeson, who attended the closing ceremony alongside the director and co-star Diane Kruger.
San Sebastian 2022 winners
Golden Shell for best film
The Kings Of The World (Col-Lux-Fr-Mex-Nor) Dir. Laura Mora
Special jury prize
Runner (US-Ger-Fr) Dir. Marian Mathias
Silver Shell For best director
Genki Kawamura, A Hundred Flowers (Jap)
Silver Shell for best leading performance (ex-aequo)
Carla Quílez, La Maternal (Sp) and Paul Kircher, Winter Boy (Fra)
Silver Shell For best supporting performance
Renata Lerman, The Substitute (Arg-Sp-It-Mex-Fr)
Jury prize for best screenplay
Dong Yun Zhou, Wang Chao, A Woman (China)
Jury prize for best cinematography
Manuel Abramovich, Pornomelancolía (Arg-Fr-Bra-Mex)
Kutxabank-New Directors Award
Jeanne Aslan, Paul Saintillan, Spare Keys (Fr)
Special mention: Parth Saurabh, On Either Sides Of The Pond (India)
Horizontes Award
Tengo sueños eléctricos (Bel-Fr-Costa Rica) Dir. Valentina Maurel
Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Award
Godland (Den-Ice-Fr-Swe) Dir. Hylnur Pálmason
Nest Award
Montaña azul (Col) Dirs. Sofía Salinas, Juan David Bohórquez
Special mention: Anabase (Switz) Dir. Benjamin Goubet
San Sebastián Audience Award
Argentina 1985 (Arg-US) Dir. Santiago Mitre
San Sebastián Audience Award for European Films
The Beasts (Sp-Fr) Dir. Rodrigo Sorogoyen
Irizar Basque Film Award
Cork (Sp) Dir. Mikel Gurrea
Special mention: To Books And Women I Sing (Sp) Dir. Maria Elorza
TCM Youth Award
To Books And Women I Sing (Sp) Dir. Maria Elorza
Fipresci Award
Cork (Sp) Dir. Mikel Gurrea
Agenda 2030 Euskadi Basque Country Award
Tori et Lokita (Bel-Fr) Dirs. Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Dunia Ayaso Award
Tobacco Barns (Sp-Us) Dir. Rocío Mesa
Special Mention: The Yellow Ceiling (Sp) Dir. Isabel Coixet
No comments yet