Palestinian director Scandar Copti’s Happy Holidays has won the Golden Alexander-Theo Angelopoulos prize for best film at the 65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, which ran from October 31-November 10.
The family drama centring on an Arab-speaking Israeli family premiered earlier this year in Venice’s Horizons strand, winning best screenplay. Copti had previously won the best film and screenplay prizes at Thessaloniki in 2009 for his Academy Award nominated Ajami.
The Silver Alexander for best director went to Belgian Leonardo van Dijl for his debut feature Julie Keeps Quiet, winner of the SACD award in Cannes Critics’ Week sidebar.
The jury of the international competition, reserved for first and second films, comprised American director/producer Sara Driver, Canadian filmmaker Denis Cote and Greek producer and former Heretic co-founder Konstantinos Kontovrakis.
Mahmoud Bakri won best actor for his part as a Palestinian refugee stranded in Athens in Mahdi Fleifel’s To A Land Unknown which premiered earlier this year in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight.
Joana Santos was named best actress for her role in Laura Carreira’s social drama On Falling.
The festival maintained for the second year its controversial decision to not unveil its official awards during the traditional closing gala ceremony - instead they were handed out together with the side awards at a smaller event.
Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes were in Thessaloniki to introduce The Return by Uberto Pasolini in which they star. Both received honorary Golden Alexanders. Matt Dillon was also in town to host a screening of Jessica Palud’s Being Maria, in which he plays Marlon Brando. He also received an honorary Golden Alexander.
Pablo Larrain’s Maria, starring Angelina Jolie and partly shot in Greece, opened the festival. The closing awards gala was marked by the news of the death of Yiannis Boutaris, the former president of the festival and two- times Thessaloniki mayor .
Industry winners
Thessaloniki’s Agora industry strand saw Turkish director Ahu Ozturk’s The Hunchback win the Crossroads Co-Production Forum-Two Thirty Five award.
The Passport by Palestinian filmmaker Rakan Mayasi received the CNC-backed award for script development as well as the Mediterranean Film Institute award.
The ArteKino International award went to Fog by Bulgarian Denis Spiridonov, while the Finos Film award went to Greece’s Wake (Agrypnia) by Thelyia Petraki. Another Greek project, African Grey by Yorgos Gousis, received the Onassis Foundation award.
Among the Works in Progress main winners were two Greek projects: Stergios Dinopoulos and Krysianna Papadakis’ Greek-UK co-production Bearcave and Giorgos Georgopoulos’ Patty Is Such A Girly Name.
The Agora awards in total were worth €200,000 in cash and in services.
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