Alexandru Belc’s Metronom has picked up the award for best international film at the 39th edition of the Jerusalem Film Festival (JFF) this week.
The Romanian film was selected from 11 international titles, which included Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave and Mia Hansen-Løve’s One Fine Morning. It centres around a teenage couple spending their last few days together in 1972. Belc also won the best director award when the film played in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard selection earlier this year.
Berlinale managing director Mariette Rissenbeek, Hungarian filmmaker László Nemes and Icelandic director Rúnar Rúnarsson comprised the jury. On selecting Metronom, they said the film had ”a truly cinematic take on the experience of youth in the face of state repression. Its clear focus and the individual perspective are the source for its particular strength.”
The jury also gave a special mention to Belgium actor Pablo Schils for his leading role in Tori And Lokita by the Dardenne brothers.
Debut delights
Chilean actor-turned-director Manuela Martelli was honoured with best first feature film for her thriller 1976 about a middle-class woman who steps out of her familiar comforts when she’s asked to take care of an injured young man.
Martelli was screening with films including Charlotte Le Bon’s Falcon Lake and Chie Hayakawa’s Plan 75 but the jury – made up of producer Pamela Koffler, Portuguese filmmaker João Pedro Rodrigues and Mumbai film festival director Smriti Kiran – said they were ”were struck by the confident, compelling and restrained storytelling in [1976]”.
A special mention was given to Andrés Ramírez Pulido’s La Jauría.
Other winners included the documentary My Imaginary Country from Patricio Guzmán which, joint with Rithy Panh’s Everything Will Be Okay, won the ’In the spirit of freedom’ award which is given to films ”dealing with humankind’s universal search for freedom and justice”.
Local stars
In the Israeli competition, Yona Rozenkier’s 35 Downhill picked up three awards in total: best film, best actor for Shmuel Vilozny and best cinematography for Oded Ashkenazy.
The film follows an estranged father and son embarking on a tractor road trip across Israel. This is the second time Rozenkier has won best Israeli feature after his 2018 drama The Dive.
The jury was presided over by festival president Volker Schlöndorff, cinematographer Daniella Nowitz, French filmmaker Christophe Cognet and film curator Alissa Simon.
Moshe Rosenthal’s Karaoke won the best debut award while Oshrat Ingedashet picked up best actress for her role in America by The Cakemaker director Ofir Raul Graizer.
JFF opened on July 21 with a screening of Palme d’Or winner Triangle Of Sadness and will run until July 31. The total sum of prizes awarded across the various festival competitions amounted to nearly $300,000 (NIS 1m).
Full list of winners
International competition:
Best film - Metronom dir. Alexandru Belc
Best debut - 1967 dir. Manuela Martelli
In the spirit of freedom - Everything Will Be Okay dir. Rithy Panh; My Imaginary Country dir. Patricio Guzmán
Chantal Akerman competition - Myanmar Diaries dir. The Myanmar Film Collective
Israeli competition:
Best feature - 35 Downhill dir. Yona Rozenkier
Best feature - Karaoke dir. Moshe Rosenthal
Best screenplay - Idan Haguel, Concerned Citizen
Best actor - Shmuel Vilozny, 35 Downhill
Best actress - Oshrat Ingedashet, America
Best cinematography - Oded Ashkenazy, 35 Downhill
Best original score - Zoe Polansky, Concerned Citizen
Israeli documentary competition:
Best documentary - To Cure Longing dir. Artyom Dubitski
Best director - Zohar Wagner, Savoy
Best editing - Nilly Feller and Shauly Melamed, Savoy
Best documentary research - David Wachsmann, Two Kids A Day
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