In what turned out to be festival director Miguel Ribeiro’s final edition at the helm, Doclisboa’s City of Lisbon Award for Best International Competition Film was won by Mexican visual artist and director Sofía Peypoch for her film Earth Altars (La Tierra Los Altares).
In the film, the director returns to the site of her own kidnapping, an incident in which she was apprehended on the highway by five armed men. The jury credited the documentary for its “ability to finely interweave personal history, big history and ancestrality”. Peyboch was also awarded the festival’s New Talent Award.
See below for full list of winners
The International Competition Jury Award went to Belgian project Terril by Jorn Plucieniczak. The documentary is set in the mining landscape of Genk and explores the masculine dynamics in a working class family.
Magnificent Sky by Alexandru Badea received an honourable mention in the International competition. The film profiles Romanian avant-garde composers Iancu Dumitrescu and Ana-Maria Avram.
In the Portuguese Competition, the HBO Max Award for Best Film went to As Melusinas à Margem do Rio by Melanie Pereira“for creating a form to reimagine a legend though the experience of working people, gender and national identity”. The Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores Award was won by Memories of a Perfect Day, by Davina-Maria El Khoury, “for its lyrical understanding that isolation can be redeemed through creative expression”.
Among other awards, Mercedes Moncada Rodríguez won the Healthy Workplace Film Award for her feature, Perplexed Ants, looking at the protests, sit-ins and strikes of workers in southern Spain.
Leadership change
As the 21st festival, running 19 to 29 October, drew to a close, Ribeiro confirmed he is to stand down as artistic director of the event. He is to take up a new position in charge of programming at new Lisbon arts centre Casa Do Comun. Mexican producer and curator Paula Astorga is to take over as Doclisboa director.
Ticket sales have been brisk over the last 10 days and are predicted to end up at around the 20,000 mark (similar to the 2022 edition). There were 475 accredited industry guests in Lisbon for the festival, among them representatives from CPH: DOX, Locarno and other major European festivals and documentary events.
2024 plans
Looking forward to next year, the festival has confirmed that Spain will be the “guest” country at the 2024 edition, which is due to run 17-27 Oct 2024, following on from Finland, the country in the spotlight this year. Ribeiro promised 2024 will offer “a true celebration of Iberian cinema for Doclisboa’s visitors.”
“Spain is enormous compared to Portugal. There is a lot going on and we are going to take full advantage of our proximity,” Joana Cunha Ferreira, coordinator of Doclisboa’s industry programme, Nebulae, commented of the new partnership with the Spanish.
Next year, Portugal celebrates 50 years of democracy with the anniversary of the “Carnation Revolution.” Spain is soon to mark 50 years since the death of General Franco in 1975. The Doclisboa decision to put Spain in the spotlight is part of bigger celebrations of the move away from dictatorship in both countries. Madrid film school ECAM will be invited to help Doclisboa create the Green Years section, featuring films by young, contemporary directors from the region.
The soon to depart director Ribeiro, who has been part of the Doclisboa team since 2012, hailed “the presence and the generosity of the filmmakers that visited us” and spoke of his pleasure in “having a festival that joins in one space people from so many different parts of the world, watching the same films but having different perspectives on them.”
Ribeiro said that he was “proud and very emotionally attached” to Doclisboa but was now ready to “take this new turn” in his career.
Doclisboa 2023 winners
City of Lisbon Award for Best International Competition Film
La Tierra Los Altares Dir. Sofía Peypoch
RTP International Competition Jury Award
Terril Dir. Jorn Plucieniczak
Honorable Mention – International Competition Jury Award
Magnificent Sky Dir. Alexandru Badea
HBO Max Award for Best Portuguese Competition Film
As Melusinas à Margem do Rio Dir. Melanie Pereira
Portuguese Society of Authors Competition Jury Award
Memories of a Perfect Day Dir. Davina-Maria El Khoury
Best Short Film Award
At Night, the Red Sky Dir. Ali Razi
New Talent Award
la tierra los altares Dir. Sofía Peypoch
Healthy Workplaces Film Award
Hormigas Perplejas Dir. Mercedes Moncada Rodríguez
Honorable Mention – Healthy Workplaces Film Award
Human, not Human Dir. Natan Castay
Rights and Freedoms Award
An Owl, a Garden and the Writer Dir. Sara Dolatabadi
Honorable Mention – Rights and Freedoms Award
The Trial Dir. Ulises de la Orden
INATEL Foundation Award
Fogo no Lodo Dir. Catarina Laranjeiro and Daniel Barroca
Fernando Lopes Award
As Melusinas à Margem do Rio Dir. Melanie Pereira
Uniarts Helsinki’s Academy of Fine Arts Award for Best Green Years Film
Sparks Dir. Ève Le Fessant Coussonneau
Pedro Fortes Award for Best Green Years Portuguese Film
By Division and Differentiation Dir. Carolina Grilo Santos
Honorable Mention – Green Years
Passportless Mess Dir. Maja Penčič
Público Newspaper Audience Award for Best Portuguese Film
Verdade ou Consequência? Dir. Sofia Marques
Schools Award
As Melusinas à Margem do Rio Dir. Melanie Pereira
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