José Eduardo Belmonte’s Se Nada Mais der Certo and Matheus Nauchtergaele’s A Festa da Menina Morta Share Top Honours at Rio Film Festival Awards 2008

The 10th annual Rio de Janeiro Film Festival closed tonight, Thursday October 9, and shared the top honours at its Premiere Brazil ‘Redentor’ awards ceremony between two films which showed the rich diversity of Brazilian filmmaking this year: José Eduardo Belmonte’s piquant thriller Se Nada Mais der Certo and Matheus Nachtergaele’s A Festa da Menina Morta - which aroused much controversy around its festival screenings for it’s tough view on faith and belief - took two awards apiece.

Belmonte’s humour laced thriller Se Nada Mais de Certo took best feature award and best actress prize for its female star Caroline Abras.

A Festa da Menina Morta, considered one of the strongest content films shown in the section, received best director award for the award-winning actor Matheus Nachtergaele’s making his directing debut, and the best actor award for leading man Daniel de Oliveira.

Best documentary award was given to Pedro Urano’s Estrada Real da Cachaça, a road-movie documentary that follows the Royal Road (Estrada Real) through the states of Rio and Minas Gerais that once carried the riches of the nation cross country. Today its most precious cargo is the sugar based liquor cachaça which unites rich and poor as the nation’s most institutional drink.

The best director in the documentary section was named as Helena Solberg for Palavra (en) Cantada (The Enchanted Word) her reflection on Brazil’s popular music as an unexpected source for poetry and literature and how the two forms inter-relate, woven around performances and interviews with some of the country’s best known artists and writers.

From the more than two dozen shorts shown in Premiere Brazil, prize for best documentary short went to Carolin Markowicz and Joana Galvão’s 69-Praça da Luz, an intimate look inside the lives of five elderly prostitutes working in Luz Square, in São Paulo as they look back across their many years on the streets of Brazil’s biggest city. Best fiction short award was given to Daniel Rezende for Blackout, in which an Aide and a Congressman share a joint and spill their secrets. It is Rezende’s first film as director after serving as editor on such highly award winning features as City of God, Motorcycle Diaries and Tropa de Elite (Elite Squad), this year’s Berlin Film Festival Golden Bear winner.


The Jury gave it’s Special Prize though to first-time feature documentary director Marco Abujamra’s Jards Macalé - Um Morcego na Porta Principal, a portrait of one of Brazil’s most defiant artists and musicians.

In keeping up the annual tradition, the public were once again at odds with the official jury in selecting their favourite film. The festival audience instead gave its choice award to Matheus Souza’s Apenas O Fim (That’s It), in which a couple about to split decide to spend one last hour together and discover things they didn’t know about each other. The film was not totally overlooked by the official Jury: they singled it out for a Special Mention.

The audience gave its prize for best documentary feature to director Paulo Henrique Fontenelle for his first feature film Loki - Arnaldo Baptista a cine- biography of the notorious musician Arnaldo Baptista, former lead singer of the band "Mutantes”. Fontenelle was previously a prize winner at the festival for his short Mauro Shampoo – Jogador Cabeleireiro e Homem which won the Audience Award for best short in 2006.

The audience’s favourite short film was André Rangel & Marcos Negrão’s Urubus Tem Asas (Vultures Have Wings) looking at the way one community has faced up to the damage caused by waste disposal.


This year’s FIPRESCI prize for Best Latin film, from an international jury headed by Argentinian critic Diego Brodersen was awarded to Lucrecia Martel’s Mujer sin Cabeza (The Headless Woman), previously presented in competition at this yea’s Cannes Film Festival.

The FIPRESCI jury was made up of: Presidente: Diego Brodersen (Argentina), Lídice Varas (Chile), Fernando Palumbo (Uruguay), Ivonete Pinto (Brasil - Porto Alegre), Pedro Butcher (Brasil - Rio de Janeiro).

Earlier in the week a special FIPRESCI award for Latin American of the Year was presented to Mexican director Arturo Ripstein who was honoured by the festival with a special tribute section showing his works.

The Rio Film Festival ended last night after 15 days which have seen more than 350 films from 60 countries presented at over 30 cinemas across the city. The festival’s new Pavilion headquarters in the city’s historic downtown district welcomed filmmakers and industry guests from across the world, including last night, actor Viggo Mortensen who arrived in Rio to present his new film, Good, as the festival’s official closing film.

Big winners of last year’s ‘Redentor’ awards were Marcos Jorge’s Estomago – best director, best actor and audience favourite, and Sandra Koygut’s Mutum which received the Jury prize for best film.

Last year’s festival opening film Tropa de Elite later received the Golden Bear at Berlin.

Full Awards 2008:

Premiere Brazil Official jury
President - Wieland Speck, Director Panorama, Berlin Film Festival
Camila Pitanga, Actress (Brazil)
Jorge Duran, Screenwriter (Chile)
Lita Stantic, Producer, Screenwriter, Director (Argentina)

Best Fiction Feature: SE NADA MAIS DER CERTO
(Should Nothing Else Work Out) dir. José Eduardo Belmonte.
(Stills: http://www.festivaldorio.com.br/downloads/2008111421.htm)

Best Documentary Feature: ESTRADA REAL DA CACHAÇA
(Royal Road of Cachaça) dir. Pedro Urano.
(Stills: http://www.festivaldorio.com.br/downloads/2008111412.htm)

Best Director: MATHEUS NACHTERGAELE
A FESTA DA MENINA MORTA (The Dead Girl's Feast)
(Stills: http://www.festivaldorio.com.br/downloads/2008111413.htm)

Best Documentary Director: HELENA SOLBERG
PALAVRA (EN)CANTADA (The Enchanted Word)
(Stills: http://www.festivaldorio.com.br/downloads/2008111404.htm )

Best Actor: DANIEL DE OLIVEIRA
A FESTA DA MENINA MORTA (The Dead Girl's Feast)
dir. Matheus Nachtergaele.
(Stills: http://www.festivaldorio.com.br/downloads/2008111413.htm)

Best Actress: CAROLINE ABRAS
SE NADA MAIS DER CERTO (Should Nothing Else Work Out) dir. José Eduardo Belmonte.
(Stills: http://www.festivaldorio.com.br/downloads/2008111421.htm)

Best Fiction Short:
BLACKOUT (Blackout) dir. Daniel Rezende.
(Stills: http://www.festivaldorio.com.br/downloads/2008111452.htm)

Best Documentary Short:
69-PRAÇA DA LUZ (69-Luz Square) dir. Carolina Markowicz, Joana Galvão.
(Stills: http://www.festivaldorio.com.br/downloads/2008111455.htm)

Special Jury Prize:
JARDS MACALÉ - UM MORCEGO NA PORTA PRINCIPAL
(Jards)
dir. Marco Abujamra, Co-Director João Pimentel.
(Stills: http://www.festivaldorio.com.br/downloads/2008111409.htm)

Jury Special Mention
APENAS O FIM (That's It) dir. Matheus Souza.
(Stills: http://www.festivaldorio.com.br/downloads/2008111406.htm)

Audience Awards
Best Fiction Feature:
APENAS O FIM (That's It) dir. Matheus Souza.
Matheus Souza
(Stills: http://www.festivaldorio.com.br/downloads/2008111406.htm)

Best Documentary Feature:
LOKI - ARNALDO BAPTISTA (Loki - Arnaldo Baptista)
dir. Paulo Henrique Fontenelle.
(Stills: http://www.festivaldorio.com.br/downloads/2008111405.htm

Best Short:
URUBUS TÊM ASAS (Vultures Have Wings) dir. André Rangel, Marcos Negrão.
(Stills: http://www.festivaldorio.com.br/downloads/2008111457.htm)

FIPRESCI Jury Prize

Best Latin American Feature:
LA MUJER SIN CABEZA (The Headless Woman) - Argentina
dir. Lucrecia Martel.
(Stills: http://www.festivaldorio.com.br/downloads/2008110297.htm)


Additional notes:

As well as the festival trophy (Troféu Redentor) the winning films at Festival do Rio in Première Brasil get to take home:

Best Film – Official Jury (Se Nada Mais Der Certo (Should Nothing Else Work Out)
QUANTA Prize R$ 10.000,00 in equipment
TELE IMAGE Prize - 60 hours of telecine off line
NIELSEN EDI Prize - International Tracking Report (Brasil + two countries)

Best Documentary – Official Jury (Estrada Real da Cachaça (Royal Road of Cachaça)
QUANTA Prize - R$ 6.000,00 in equipment
TELEIMAGE – 8 hours tape to tape

Best Shorts – Official Jury (Blackout & 69 – Praça da Luz)
QUANTA Prize - R$ 4.000,00 in equipment
TELE IMAGE Prize – 6 hours telecine off line and 40 hours sound editing
LINK DIGITAL Prize - Transfer up to 15 minutes
DOLBY Prize - Dolby 5.1 licence
CTAV Prize – New subtitled print (in film or digital)

Best Film – Audience Award (Apenas O Fim (That’s It)
PROJETA BRASIL CINEMARK Prize, R$ 20.000,00 cash prize
NIELSEN EDI Prize - International Tracking Report (Brazil + two countries)

Best Documentary – Audience Award (Loki – Arnaldo Baptista)
GLOBO FILMES Prize - R$ 100.000,00 in media on TV Globo
PROJETA BRASIL CINEMARK Prize - R$ 10.000,00 cash prize