Of Horses And Men gallops to Brussels victory

Scroll down for full list of winners

Of Horses And Men won €10,000 ($13,600) and beat out 11 other competitors at the festival, which ran from June 6-14.

The drama about the deep relationships between members of a small Icelandic community and their horses debuted in Iceland last August and has toured the festival circuit ever since, beginning with the San Sebastian Film Festival in September. It was released in the UK last weekend.

Other notable winners included Swedish director Anna Odell’s The Reunion, which won the White Iris Award for best first film, as well as €2,500 ($3,400).

Odell’s feature about her imagined high school reunion picked up two other prizes at the festival, the Fedex Cinephile Award and the RTBF TV Prize of Best Film.

Another film that scooped multiple awards was Farewell To The Moon, from Dutch director Dick Tuinder. The coming-of-age comedy won the Best Image Award and the PRIME TV Prize of Best Film.

The competition jury included singer Raphael; actors Fabrizio Rongione and Olivier Rabourdin; and actresses Hande Kodja and Anita Kravos.

After opening with French director Mathieu Amalric’s La Chambre Bleue, the festival honoured special guest Sir Alan Parker with a masterclass and a special presentation of his 1991 film, The Commitments.

Workshops led by Priceless director Pierre Salvadori and La Belle Noiseuse screenwriter Pascal Bonitzer were also staged for festivalgoers.

The world premiere of photography exhibition The Dirty Fifty was held on June 6, and the festival concluded with a screening of Hossein Amini’s The Two Faces Of January.

The festival reported 30,000 attendees this year as it honoured European film, specifically Polish, Greek, Spanish and Italian cinema.

12^TH BRUSSELS FILM FESTIVAL WINNERS

Golden Iris Award
Of Horses And Men by Benedikt Erlingsson (Iceland)

White Iris Award
The Reunion by Anna Odell (Sweden)

Jury Award
Aces by Alfonso Zarauza (Spain)

Best Image Award
Farewell To The Moon by Dick Tuinder (Netherlands)

Best Screenplay Award
I Am Yours by Iram Haq (Norway)

Screenplay jury: Eric A’goistino and Vincent Guillemot

Cineuropa Award
Vis-à-vis by Nevio Marasovic (Croatia)

Cineuropa jury: Domenico La Porta

Fedex Cinephile Award
The Reunion by Anna Odell (Sweden)

Fedex Cinephile jury: Four young cinema lovers

Audience Award Euromillions
The Double by Richard Ayoade (UK)

RTBF TV Prize of Best Film
The Reunion by Anna Odell (Sweden)

BeTV Prize of Best Film
The Dark Valley by Andreas Prochaska (Austria/Germany)

PRIME TV Prize of Best Film
Farewell To The Moon by Dick Tuinder (Netherlands)

Music Docs Award
Zivan Makes A Punk Festival by Ognjen Glavonic (Serbia)

Music Docs jury: Raf Keunen, Sylvian Chauveau, Marc Lacroix and David Menessier