The Palme d’Or-winning Triangle of Sadness, from Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund, has triumphed at this year’s Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival (EMIFF), winning Best International Feature Film. The 11th edition of the festival also saw teenage pregnancy drama La Maternal scoop three awards – one apiece for director Pilar Palomero, actor Carla Quilez and cinematographer Julián Elizade.
Held in Mallorca’s honey-hued capital, Palma, EMIFF ran from 26 October until 2 November, celebrating the best of Spanish and international filmmaking talent. Three honorary award winners were announced before the festival opened: the Evolution Vision Award for director Lone Scherfig; the Evolutionary New Talent Award for actress Laia Costa; and the Evolution Cinematographer ICON Award for the legendary Ed Lachman ASC.
At the closing night gala, held at Palma’s magnificent Palau de Congressos de Palma, the audience was treated to a screening of La Maternal before the rest of the award winners were crowned. Shining alongside Triangle of Sadness and La Maternal in the Feature Film category was coming-of-age film Bulldog, which won the Made in Baleares Best Feature Film. The drama’s star, Julius Nitschkoff, was awarded the accolade of Best Actor – International Feature Film. Rounding out the category were Alisa Kolosova’s Charly and Filip Gieldon’s Magdalena, the winner and special mention honouree respectively of the Best Debut Feature Film prize.
The gala also celebrated writing talent, with Screenplay awards presented to Marta Jimenez for Remember Me (Best Feature Film Screenplay); Ayad Mohammed Ameen Younus for The Bag (Best Short Film Screenplay); and Sophie von Rheden for The Sponsor (Best Evolution Island Screenplay).
The much-coveted Short Films category had two of the five awards dedicated to cinematography. Winning Best Cinematography Short Film was Mountain, while Best Cinematography Short Made in Baleares was Simon Gullström with I Just Want to Disappear. Leo Berne and Raphaël Rodriguez won Best International Short Film for Censor of Dreams, while Sofía Martell and Lluís Prieto won Best Short Made in Balereas for Sacrifici (special mention to Eugenia Sampedro for Un Diumenge Qualsevol). As well as winning the Best Spanish Short Film by TV Cortos award, Gabriela Ortega will receive an offer of a broadcast agreement for Huella through the ShortsTV and TVCortos networks.
In Documentaries, Rafa Arroyo won Best Documentary Short, International and Made in Baleares for Soul Lines, and the Documentary Feature International went to Sam French and Clementine Malpas for With This Breath I Fly. Petricor won Victoria Morell Best Documentary Feature Film Made in Baleares, with a special mention for Patricia Franquesa’s Oh Dear, Sara.
There were two awards in the Music and Experimental category. Best Music Video went to Javier Polo for Johnny B Zero, with a special mention for Bones by Jill Sachs and Angeline Armstrong. Meanwhile, Ewa Smyk won Best Experimental Short for Homebird.
The closing gala topped off a sparkling week of film festivities in the Balearic Islands. The president of Mallorca’s government institution, Catalina Cladera, attended the closing gala and praised the event. “Evolution is a festival that every year becomes bigger, more interesting and innovative,” she said. “Thanks to [the festival], the name of Mallorca is projected all over the world.”
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