manas alpha

Source: Giornate degli Autori / Douwe Hennink

‘Manas’, ‘Alpha.’

Portuguese feature Manas and Dutch title Alpha. have won the first two prizes from the independent Giornate degli Autori sidebar in Venice.

Marianna Brennand Fortes’ Manas took the Director’s Award, selected by The Souvenir director Joanna Hogg’s jury. Set in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, the film follows a 13-year-old girl who decides to confront the oppressive system that controls her family and the women in their community.

The film is backed by Walter Salles and the Dardenne Brothers, and produced by Fortes for Portugal’s Fado Filmes. The film receives a €20,000 (£16,865) cash prize, to be divided equally between Fortes and sales agent Bendita Film Sales.

Jan-Willem van Ewijk’s Alpha. took the Europa Cinemas Label for best European film in the section, awarded by a jury consisting of European exhibitors Daira Aboliņa, Antonio Costa Valente, Andrea Porta and Jana Trnkova. The jury noted “a real tour de force which we think audiences will connect with.”

LevelK boarded the film for sales earlier this week. It follows a man whose restorative Alpine retreat is disturbed by the arrival of his father, with the pair embarking on a perilous ski tour.

The film is produced by Frank Hoeve for the Netherlands’ Baldr Film, in co-production with Lomotion Stargara. 

The Giornate audience award is still to be announced. Rusudan Glurjidze’s Georgian feature The Antique screened this morning (Friday, September 6) in Giornate, two days after its suspension was lifted after an Italian court overturned a decree preventing it from screening in the festival. Glurjidze was present for the screening.

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