Lisbon, Portugal – The Doclisboa Film Festival recently concluded its 22nd edition, unveiling a plethora of winners in several competitive categories. Among the highlights, Rui Pires’s “Palace of Citizens” clinched the MAX Award for Best Portuguese Film, while Masha Chernaya’s “The Shards” emerged victorious in the international circuit, bagging the prestigious City of Lisbon Award for Best International Competition Film.
The festival, a staple in Lisbon’s cultural calendar, also recognized innovative contributions from around the globe. In the international segment, two films shared the CUPRA International Competition Jury Award: Lucia Seles’s “Fire Supply” from Argentina and Jen Debauche’s “The Anchor” from Belgium. Debauche’s film further garnered attention by also winning the TVCine New Talents Award, acknowledging her promising debut in filmmaking.
In the Portuguese competition, besides Pires’s well-received exploration of the national parliament’s intricacies, Inadelso Cossa’s “The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder” received the Portuguese Authors Society Jury Award. This film intricately stitches tales from Mozambique, Germany, France, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Norway, mapping the lingering aftershocks of conflict on the human psyche.
Additionally, the festival’s school jury, consisting of students from ETIC (School of Technologies, Innovation and Creation), awarded “I Am Here” by Zsófia Paczolay and Dorian Rivière for its impactful narrative, securing the School Award for their deep-dive into themes of existence and visibility.
Stepping outside the Portuguese competition, the segment titled From the Earth to the Moon highlighted diverse narratives touching on broad and poignant themes. “For You, Portugal, I Swear!” a collaborative effort by Sofia da Palma Rodrigues and Diogo Cardoso, won dual accolades – The Legal Partners Rights and Freedoms Award and the Doclisboa Award. Both honors recognized the film’s powerful engagement with issues concerning human rights.
In another win for impactful storytelling, the Healthy Workplaces Film Award was bestowed upon “Favoriten” by Ruth Beckermann. This Austrian production was applauded for its exploration of labor dynamics and occupational wellness—a poignant reminder of cinema’s role in reflecting workplace realities.
Amongst other notable mentions were “Boolean Vivarium” by Nicolas Bailleul, which received an honorable mention for its innovative approach, and “The Falling Sky” by Eryk Rocha and Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha, capturing the INATEL Foundation Award due to its compelling dissection of cultural and temporal boundaries through its subject matter.
By celebrating such a range of themes and monuments from the political to the poetic, Doclisboa continues to underscore its importance as a platform not just for innovative filmmaking, but for stimulating insightful discourse on diverse, often pressing, global issues. As film enthusiasts around the world look towards Lisbon every year, the festival’s discerning selection and awards reiterate cinema’s potent capacity to shape, reflect, and challenge societal narratives.
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