São Paulo Int’l Film Festival, known as Mostra de São Paulo, concluded its 50th edition on Thursday night (October 29) with the awards ceremony, as the Colombian mystery drama Five Years, Four Months was named best fiction film, leading a pack of Latin American winners.
The feature from Esteban Hoyos García and Juan Miguel Gelacio follows a woman’s fight for justice after her son dies in the prolonged armed conflict in Colombia. The film took the prize for best fiction in the New Directors Competition, the Bandeira Paulista Trophy, created by visual artist Tomie Ohtake.
Mexican filmmaker Fernanda Tovar won the best director award for Sad Girlz, which explores the dynamics of female teenage friendship while processing trauma. The film also took home the Critics Award for International Film.
The jury, composed of Iranian filmmaker Ali Asgari, US director and musician Boots Riley, Colombian director César Augusto Acevedo, and Brazilian filmmaker Laís Bodanzky, awarded two more prizes.
Maiken Baird’s Edward Said: Between Worlds received the special jury prize for chronicling the life, career, and intellectual legacy of the Palestinian-American scholar and activist.
The best documentary award went to The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs, in which the filmmaking duo Matteo Norzi and Èlia Gasull Balada focus on the art of Indigenous painter Sara Flores from the Peruvian Amazon. It was also named best international documentary by the audience, becoming one of only two titles to win two awards at the festival alongside Sad Girlz.
Allan Deberton’s Brazilian Oscar submission Gugu’s World won the Audience award (Brazilian fiction).
Renata de Almeida, the festival’s director, celebrated the deep representation of Latin America at the ceremony at Teatro Cultura Artística as a way of engaging with the current political landscape.”especially in the sense of a greater unity among Latin American countries against a new form of colonialism”.
De Almeida singled out Sad Girlz, in which Mexican swimmers train to compete in Rio de Janeiro, as a beacon of hope representing freedom and dreams for the young female protagonists.
“Brazil is portrayed here in a somewhat idyllic light, as a refuge, a promise of something greater. Curiously, this image aligns with the outcome of our presidential election last Sunday, given the way Brazil is now perceived by the world, and especially by Latin America,” the festival director added, referring to Leftist President Luiz Inácio ’Lula’ da Silva’s election victory and the country’s emergence as a symbol of democratic resilience and a bulwark against far-right authoritarianism.
Award winners
Best Fiction
Five Years, Four Months
Dirs. Esteban Hoyos García, Juan Miguel Gelacio
Best Documentary
The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs
Dirs. Matteo Norzi, Èlia Gasull Balada
Best Director
Fernanda Tovar
Sad Girlz
Special Jury Prize
Edward Said: Between Worlds
Dir. Maiken Baird
Audience award (Brazilian documentary)
Fernanda
Dir. Pedro Waddington
Audience award (Brazilian fiction)
Gugu’s World
Dir. Allan Deberton
100 Days
Dir. Carlos Saldanha
Audience award (International documentary)
The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs
Audience award (International fiction)
All Of A Sudden
Dir. Ryūsuke Hamaguchi
Critics award (International film)
Sad Girlz
Dir. Fernanda Tovar
Critics award (Brazilian film)
Littles Tragedies, by Daniel Nolasco
Brada award (Best art direction)
Trial Of Hein
Dir. Kai Stänicke
Netflix award
Talented
Dir. Thais Fujinaga
Projeto Paradiso award
The French Teacher
Dir. Ricardo Alves Jr.
Prisma Queer award (International film)
I Plant My Hand In The Garden
Dirs. Boris Hadžija, Hoda Taheri
Prêmio Prisma Queer (Special Jury Prize)
The Passion According To G.H.B.
Dirs. Gustavo Vinagre, Viva Couto
Prisma Queer award (Brazilian film)
London
Dirs. Victor Di Marco, Márcio Picoli
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