The 2024 edition of the Valladolid International Film Week, also known as SEMINCI, wrapped on Saturday (October 26), giving its top award, the Golden Spike, to Misericordia by Alain Guiraudie.
Misericordia tells the story of a man who returns to his hometown for the funeral of his former boss, the village baker, and decides to stay for a few days with the man’s widow, getting involved in a series of unexpected events.
Guiraudie also won the best screenplay award.
The members of the Valladolid jury, Greek director Sofía Exarchou; Spanish actress Aida Folch; American critic Devika Girish; Spanish filmmaker Luis López Carrasco and German producer Ingmar Trost, praised the film’s “complex balance of genres and tone in a rural thriller-comedy that hides a profound reflection on how desire and guilt make us both predictable and incomprehensible to each other.”
Misericordia is a France, Portugal production by CG Cinema, Scala Films, Arte France Cinema, Rosa Filmes and Spain’s Albert Serra’s and Montse Triola’s Andergraun Films.
Starring Félix Kysyl, Catherine Frot, Jean-Baptiste Durand, Jacques Develay, Misericordia first premiered in the Cannes Premiere sidebar. It will be distributed in Spain by Karma Films and international sales are handled by Les Films Du Losange.
The second top award at this year’s SEMINCI was shared by Yeo Siew Hua’s first feature Stranger Eyes, a mystery drama about a child who vanishes, and the musical drama They Will Be Dust by Spanish director Carlos Marques-Marcet about a couple facing end-of-life decisions. The latter, that had already won the Platform award at Toronto, also got a special mention for actors Ángela Molina and Alfredo Castro in Valladolid.
The Ribera del Duero best director award and best cinematography prize went to Guan Hu’s Black Dog.
Best actress went to Laura Weissmahr for nightmarish motherhood drama Salve Maria, a Spanish production directed by Mar Coll. Best actor to Norwegian actors Jan Gunnar Røise and Thorbjørn Harr for Sex by Dag Johan Haugerud.
Spanish dark comedy The Party’s Over earned first time feature director Elena Manrique the Pilar Miró award for best Spanish director.
The audience award went to Tracie Laymon’s Bob Trevino Likes It; and the Fipresci award was won by Tyler Taormina’s Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point. The Fipresci jury praised Taormina as “a new voice, young and full of promise, not only in American cinema but also worldwide that is in search of avoiding clichés and of finding new ways to tell stories and portray emotions”.
Meeting Point, the main sidebar section of Valladolid, awarded its top prize to Louise Courvoisier’s Holy Cow, which also won the section’s audience award.
The closing ceremony included a posthumous homage to filmmaker Patricia Ferreira and actress Concha Velasco, a celebrated Spanish star born in Valladolid, who both died in December 2023.
Valladolid 2024 winners
Official competition
Golden Spike
Misericordia (France/Spain/Portugal)
Dir: Alain Guiraudie
Silver Spike
Stranger Eyes (Singapore/Taiwan/France/US)
Dir: Yeo Siew Hua
Ex-aequo
They Will Be Dust (Spain/Switzerland/Italy)
Dir: Carlos Marques-Marcet
Ribera del Duero Award for best direction
Guan Hu
Black Dog (China)
Pilar Miró Award for best Spanish director
Elena Manrique
The Party’s Over (Spain/Belgium)
Best actress
Laura Weissmahr
Salve Maria (Spain)
Best actor
Jan Gunnar Røise
Sex (Norway)
Ex-aequo
Thorbjørn Harr
Sex (Norway)
Special mention
Ángela Molina, Alfredo Castro
They Will Be Dust (Spain/Switzerland/Italy)
Best cinematography
Gao Wiezhe
Black Dog (China)
Miguel Delibes award for best screenplay
Misericordia (France/Spain/Portugal)
Dir: Alain Guiraudie
José Salcedo Award for best edit
Telmo Churro, Pedro Filipe Marques
Grand Tour (Portugal/Italy/France)
Golden Spike for best short
Baldilocks (Belgium)
Dir. Marthe Peters
Silver Spike for best short
Punter (Southafrica/US)
Dir. Jason Adam Maselle
Young jury award
Armand (Norway/Netherlands/Sweden/Germany)
Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel
Fipresci award
Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point (US)
Dir: Tyler Taormina
Audience award
Bob Trevino Likes It (US)
Dir: Tracie Laymon
Meeting Point
Best feature
Holy Cow (France)
Dir: Louise Courvoisier
Special Fundos prize
Familiar Touch (US)
Dir: Sarah Friedland
Audience award
Holy Cow (France)
Dir: Louise Courvoisier
Time of history
Grand Prix
Youth (Hard Times) (France/Luxemburg/Netherlands)
Dir: Wang Bing
Special award
Henry Fonda For President (Austria/Germany)
Dir: Alexander Horwath
Special mention
Savanna and the Mountains (Portugal/Uruguay)
Dir: Paulo Carneiro
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