Director Marcos Jorge's Estômago (Estômago - A Gastronomic Story) was flavour of the night at Festival do Rio (Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival) closing night Première Brazil awards when it swept the table taking the Audience Award for best film, the Official Jury's best director award, Special Jury Prize, and best actor award for leading actor João Miguel. It is the second festival honour for Miguel, having also won the best actor award two years ago for his performance in Cinema, Aspirinas e Urubus.
Sandra Kogut's Mutum, which received positive feedback when screened in Cannes Director's Fortnight earlier this year, was the official jury's choice for best fiction feature. Kogut's film shows us the world through the eyes of a ten year old boy.
The Best Actress award sees A Casa de Alice (Alice's House) actress Carla Ribas take her third best actress award for her role of the Shirley Valentine-esque Alice of the title, who late in life begins to explore her sexual potential. She previously received the best actress Special Jury Prize awards at the Miami and Guadalajara film festivals.
Actor Babu Santana wins the Rio festival's special Jury Prize for performances in two films - in yet another award for Estômago, and also for his performance in Maré, Nossa Históriade Amor (Maré, Our Love Story), a musical set in one of Rio's most dangerous favelas, openly inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
In the documentary section, the official jury choice for best feature was given to director Roberto Mader for Condor , his examination of the collaboration between South American military governments which ended up with the kidnapping and murder of thousands in the seventies. The best director documentary award was given to Cao Guimarães for Andarilho, the second film in Guimãres' solitude trilogy.

For the public, the vote for best documentary went to director Beth Formaggini, for Memória para Uso Diário (Memories for Daily Use), her portrait of families searching to trace lost ones believed to have been taken by governments or at the hands of police in the slums. The film also receives the ABD&C (Brazilian Association of Documentarists and Short Filmakers) best documentary award.
Further awards presented by ABD&C went to Cabaceiras, by Ana Bárbara Ramos for best short, with Paulinho Caruso's Alphaville 2007 D.C. (Alphaville 2007 AD) receiving Special Mention.

Best Short awards were given to Sete Minutos (Seven Minutes) by Cavi Borges, Júlio Pecly and Paulo Silva in the Official Jury selection with the audience award given to A Maldita (Damned), by Tetê Mattos.

The international critic's award, Fipresci, for Best Latin Film was awarded to Mexican director Carlos Reygadas for Stellet Light (Silent Night), his film which earlier this year earned him a shared Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

The awards ceremony also saw a special Fipresci Lifetime Achievement award presented to legendary Brazilian actress Fernanda Montenegro who the previous evening had been seen at the festival in the premiere screening of Mike Newell's Love in The Time of Cholera.

The Rio Film Festival ended last night after 15 days which have seen a 20% increase in audience figures over last year. More than 250,000 spectators came out for the 300 plus films screened in the festival programme. Delegate figures also rose strongly, with more than 400 international industry visitors to the festival gathering alongside over 1,000 representatives of the Brazilian cinema business.

The festival scored many points over its rivals, including the closing night world premiere screening of Mike Newell's Love in the Time of Cholera . Numerous international co-production deals were brokered, and healthy trade was evident between producers and distributors around the festival's new Pavilion headquarters on Copacabana Beach which proved a hugely popular new advent within festival.

PREMIÈRE BRAZIL AWARDS

Full Awards:


Première Brazil Official Jury

Jury: President: Affonso Beato, cinematographer; actress Marília Pêra; Claire Stewart, executive director Australian Film Festival; Instituto Luce director and film producer Luciano Sovena.



Best Fiction Feature: Mutum, by Sandra Kogut

Best Documentary Feature: Condor, by Roberto Mader

Best Short: Sete Minutos (Seven Minutes) by Cavi Borges, Júlio Pecly and Paulo Silva

Best Director (feature): Marcos Jorge - Estômago (Estômago - A Gastronomic Story)

Best Director (documentary) - Cao Guimarães - Andarilho

Best Actor: João Miguel - Estômago (Estômago - A Gastronomic Story)

Best Actress: Carla Ribas - A Casa de Alice (Alice's House)

Special Jury Prize: Actor Babu Santana for Estômago (Estômago - A Gastronomic Story) and Maré, Nossa História de Amor (Maré, Our Love Story)



Audience Awards

Best Fiction Feature: Estômago (Estômago - A Gastronomic Story), by Marcos Jorge

Best Documentary Feature: Memória para Uso Diário (Memories for Daily Use), by Beth Formaggini

Best Short: A Maldita (Damned), by Tetê Mattos

FIPRESCI Jury Prize

Best Latin American Feature: Stellet Licht (Silent Light) by Carlos Reygadas

ABD&C Prize

(Brazilian Association of Documentary and Short Film Makers - Rio de Janeiro)

Best Documentary: Memória para Uso Diário (Memories for Daily Use), by Beth Formaggini

Best Short: Cabaceiras, by Ana Bárbara Ramos

Special Mention: Alphaville 2007 D.C. (Alphaville 2007 AD), by Paulinho Caruso

MOSTRA GERAÇÃO - Generation Prize (Best Film, Audience Award):

Valo, (Valo) de Kaija Juurikkala (Finland)


Big winners at last year, 2006, awards were director Karim Aïnouz's second feature Suely In The Sky (o Céu de Suely) taking three major awards (best picture, best director, best actress), and Heitor Dhalia's dark-humoured Drained (O Cheiro do Ralo), which was also recognized with three awards (best actor, special jury prize and FIPRESCI award).

The 2006 best documentary award was given to director Evaldo Mocarzel for his study of squatters in his home city of Sao Paulo: On the Fringes of Sao Paolo: Squatters/A Margem do Concreto. The best short prize was awarded to Caroline Leone for Joyce, a delightful story of a 12-year old who wants to be a dancer on TV.


Associated Prizes:


BEST SHORT- OFFICIAL JURY
QUANTA PRIZE - R$ 4.000,00 worth in equipment; TELE IMAGE PRIZE - 6h off line telecine and 40h of sound editing LINK DIGITAL PRIZE - A transfer up to 15 min.
DOLBY PRIZE - A dolby 5.1 licence.
KODAK PRIZE- 4 cans of 35 mm (or 7 cans of 16 mm) CTAV PRIZE - New copy with subtitles (in film or digital)

BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY - AUDIENCE AWARD GLOBO FILMES PRIZE - R$ 100.000,00 worth of media at TV Globo PROJETA BRASIL CINEMARK PRIZE - R$ 10.000,00 (cash)

BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY - OFFICIAL JURY QUANTA PRIZE - R$ 6.000,00 worth in equipment location TELEIMAGE PRIZE - 8h from tape to tape CTAV PRIZE - New copy with subtitles (in film or digital)

BEST FEATURE FICTION - AUDIENCE AWARD
LABOCINE PRIZE, 50 negative cans of film developing (35 mm) or 20 negative cans (16 mm) and 5 hours Off-line telecine PROJETA BRASIL CINEMARK PRIZE, R$ 20.000,00 (cash) NIELSEN EDI PRIZE - Tracking Report Internacional (Brazil and other countries)

BEST FEATURE FICTION - OFFICIAL JURY
PRIZE QUANTA - R$ 10.000,00 in equipment; PRIZE TELE IMAGE - 60 hours off line telecine ; PRIZE NIELSEN EDI - Tracking Report International (Brazil and other countries) PRIZE CTAV - New copy with subtitles (in film or digital)