The 43rd edition of the Efebo d'Oro ended yesterday, which this year awarded the Efebo d'Oro for Lifetime Achievement - Banca Popolare Sant'Angelo Costa-Gavras, Greek naturalized French director, internationally renowned filmmaker whose filmography it is synonymous with civic commitment and intellectual honesty.

L'Efebo d'oro New languages ​​- City of Palermo was awarded to Constanze Ruhm, Austrian filmmaker, director, artist, author and curator, whose works investigate the connection between cinema, new media and archives, focusing on representation and performativity in relation to feminist historiography «For the ability to revisit the history of cinema and political-cultural movements by establishing an unprecedented relationship with archive materials; going through a creative process that brings out a filigree counter-story, which gives voice to marginality, to the latent dynamics of the filmic image, to the often invisible female gaze ".

 

THE WINNING FILMS OF THE COMPETITIONS

The jury chaired by Egle Palazzolo (president of the Research Center for Fiction and Cinema), Roberto Escobar (film critic), Frédéric Farrucci (director), Olivia Magnani (actress) and Leena Pasanen (director of Biografilm Festival), delivered the 'Efebo d'Oro for the best film based on a literary work a O ano da morte de Ricardo Reis (Portugal, 2020) by João Botelho with the following motivation "To João Botelho because today more than ever his cinematographic writing in which a political militancy is proposed again which has become a clear force of inspiration and suggestive commitment. With O ano da morte de Ricardo Reis drawn with wisdom and courage from a work by José Saramago, this extraordinary Portuguese director in turn delivers us online, but at the same time autonomously, a real and poetic work in which even the chosen one black and white up to the color of the final part of the film become poetry and enhance the alternation of rain and lights, that of the reality of betrayed hopes and dreams that have become impossible. But they nevertheless leave the subtle hope that death is not a symbol of defeat but can become a perennial symbol of great resistance and human resources. And certainly the artist and the art ».

The jury of the Efebo Perspectives for first or second works, composed of Doriana Leondeff (screenwriter), Maryam Goormaghtigh (director) and Francesco Calogero (director), awarded Bait (UK, 2019) by Mark Jenkin "For the narrative strength and powerful settings that, through a surprising black and white, tells us what seems an old story while it is deeply rooted in the present. The characters are characterized with human depth and well supported by the performances of the actors ». The same jury awarded a special mention to Sous le ciel d’Alice (France, 2021) by Chloé Mazlo "For the originality of the language and sensitivity in dealing with such painful issues".

The presidency of the Research Center for Fiction and Cinema awarded the Special Prize to Hot Scent (Iran, 2020), Ali Ebrahimi "Intense and participatory film through which the (young) author offers us an image in many ways unedited of contemporary Iran and the complex and difficult condition of women in that country. Supported by an interpreter of remarkable expressive skills who underline the position of the woman as she is according to the participatory vision of the young director and add new and more multifaceted reflections also in relation to a time that passes and in which aspirations and needs change but cruelty remains unchanged. of lived experience ".

The ANDE Prize instead went to Green Sea (Germany, 2019) by Angeliki Antoniou "A poignant and melancholy journey through memories, dreams and experiences of an enigmatic woman, poetic in her fragility and intense in her determination, towards the second chance that existence offers them. A tale of silences and images illuminated by the scents, flavors and the sea of ​​Greece, which leaves inside a delicate tangle of questions and feelings ».

While the Student Jury Prize was awarded ex aequo to Hugo Santa Cruz's My London Lullaby (UK, 2021) and Nicolas Maury's Garçon Chiffon (France, 2021).

 

L'Efebo d’Oro is a production of the Research Center for Fiction and Cinema; with the support of Sicilia Film Commission / Sensi Contemporanei / Agency for Territorial Cohesion / MIC Directorate General CINEMA / Region of Sicily / Metropolitan City of Palermo - Area of ​​Culture / Municipality of Palermo - Department of Culture. Main sponsor: Banca Popolare Sant’Angelo / Curella Foundation. In collaboration with: CSC - Experimental Center of Cinematography (Sicily Headquarters) / Ferribotte Film / Ande / Rotary / Institut Français de Palerme.