Portuguese cinema was honored last weekend at festivals in Canada and Romania, with a focus on director João Gonzalez, who received accolades in both with the animated short ‘Ice Merchants’ .
At the Animest – Bucharest International Animation Film Festival, which ended on Sunday, Portugal was the guest country with an extensive program focused on the latest animation production and with the presence of several guests, namely the programmer Fernando Galrito, producer Abi Feijó and director Pedro Serrazina.
The Animest Trophy was awarded to director João Gonzalez, who won prizes at most of the festivals where he presented the short film “Ice Merchants”.
Award-winning at Cannes, Guadalajara and Melbourne, “Ice Merchants” is a film about a father, a son and a house on the edge of a precipice, in a story full of metaphors about family ties.
In Bucharest, the jury also awarded a special mention to “O Homem do Garbage”, a “short film” by Laura Gonçalves, while “Nayola”, by José Miguel Ribeiro, won the award for best feature film by animation.
Special mention also to the short film in virtual reality for “Surfacing”, a Luso-Italian co-production by Rossella Schillaci.
At the Animest, for having invited Portugal, the production studio BAP Studio, with directors Vasco Sá and David Doutel, was highlighted, and films like “Os Demônios do meuvó”, a “feature film” by Nuno Beato, “Fado of the adult man”, by Pedro Brito, and “Uncle Tomás, counting the days”, by Regina Pessoa.
In Canada, “Ice Merchants”, the third animated “short” by João Gonzalez, won a special mention in the children’s films section of the Montreal Festival de Novo Cinema, which ended on Sunday.
During this festival, “Super Natural”, the first feature film by Jorge Jácome, won the “New Alchemists” award, for “more experimental films that push the boundaries of cinema”, as can be read on the official page .
With a screenplay by Jorge Jácome, André e. Teodósio and José Maria Vieira Mendes, “Super Natural” is an artistic object featuring some of the disabled people who are part of the Dançando com a Diferença association, working in natural and urban spaces on the island of Madeira.
The film, which received the critics’ prize at the Berlin festival, is the result of a stage performance project that involved the Teatro Praga and the association Dançando com a Diferença, and which ended up not being released in 2020, due to the pandemic. .
The 51st Montreal New Film Festival also screened the films “Fogo Fátuo”, by João Pedro Rodrigues, and “Alma Viva”, by Cristèle Alves Meira.
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