Dao

Source: Berlin International Film Festival

‘Dao’

The Valladolid International Film Week, also known as Seminci, awarded its top prize, the Golden Spike for best film, to Alain Gomis’ Dao at the close of its 71st edition on Saturday (October 30).

A drama and documentary hybrid by French-Senegalese writer-director Alain Gomis, Dao focuses on two ceremonial events that intertwine: a wedding in France and a funeral in Guinea-Bissau.

Dao premiered in competition in Berlin. Its launch in Spain will be boosted by the €70,000 cash prize that comes with the Golden Spike, which goes to the film’s local distributor, Flamingo Films.

Seminci’s Silver Spike went to Marine Atlan’s La Gradiva, which world premiered earlier this year at Cannes’ Critics’s Week and won the section’s grand prize. The Silver Spike comes with a €25,000 prize for the Spanish distributor, Elástica Films. La Gradiva also won the best editing award at Valladolid.

The Seminci prize winners were announced at a press event led by the festival’s co-directors Mariona Viader and Javier H. Estrada. The festival had cancelled its closing gala as a sign of respect for the victims of last week’s train crash in Spain, which killed at least 69 people and left dozens of people injured.

Other Seminci awards included the Ribera del Duero best director prize, which went to Lisandro Alonso for Double Freedom; best actress to Alba Rohrwacher for Stéphane Brizé’s A Good Little Soldier; and best actor to Swann Arlaud for A Man Of His Time. The period drama set in occupied France also won the award for best cinematography.

Rose, directed by Markus Schleinzer and starring Sandra Hüller, won the audience award.

The Meeting Point sidebar, for first or second fiction features, awarded its top prize to 9 Temples To Heaven, by Sompot Chidgasornpongse, about a family’s journey through the splendour of Thailand’s temple architecture. The director has previously worked with Apichatpong Weerasethakul as an assistant director on films such as Cemetery Of Splendour and Memoria.

The festival closed with Gael García Bernal’s comedy Hombre Al Agua, which screened out of competition.

Seminici winners 2026

Golden Spike
Dao, dir: Alain Gomis

Silver Spike
La Gradiva, dir: Marine Atlan

Ribera del Duero award for best direction
Lisandro Alonso, Double Freedom

Best actress
Alba Rohrwacher, A Good Little Soldier

Best actor
Swann Arlaud, A Man Of His Time

Best cinematography
Olivier Boonjing, A Man Of His Time

Miguel Delibes award for best screenplay
Sandra Wollner, Everytime

José Salcedo award for best editing
Guillaume Lillo, La Gradiva

Official selection special mention
Aquí, dir: Tiago Guedes

Audience award
Rose, dir: Markus Schleinzer

Fipresci award
I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming, dir: Isabelle Stever

Pilar Miró Prize for best Spanish director
Sebastián Uría, Farewell, Rivers

Meeting Point best feature
9 Temples To Heaven, dir: Sompot Chidgasornpongse

Meeting Point Special Fundos prize
Cinemanía, dir: Marc Ferrer

Meeting Point ESCAC Award for best director (first or second film)
Forest High, dir: Manon Cubia

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