Awards of FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE CINE DE GIJÓN FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE CINE DE GIJÓN PALMARÉS DE LA 50 EDICIÓN 16th to 24 November happened in a beautiful Asturias in Spain, in even more beautiful sexy little town called Gijon. Beside many other interesting film sections of the festival that I was unable to see due to my FIPRESCI Jury duties and FIPRESCI selection I would be mentioning a few the awarded films first. Due to at a quite of few awards given I would mention only some. The International Jury of the 50th Gijón International Film Festival formed by Dmitry Glukhovsky, Ernesto Alterio, Lola Salvador, José Salcedo and Farid Bozorgmehr has awarded the following prizes to the feature films participating in the Official Selection:

PREMIO PRINCIPADO DE ASTURIAS AL MEJOR LARGOMETRAJE or the Best Feature Film to Japanese About the Pink Sky by Keiichi Kobayashi : film presented in black-and-white, increasingly and technically engaging Japanese indie kind. PREMIO AL MEJOR DIRECTOR or Best Director Award went to Korean film directed by Lee Sang-Woo called Barbie, for a dark side of Korean modern living and illegal economical children trafficking trade at leapt forward in the rush of globalization: the film tragically illustrates, more often presented in the nowaday Korean film. The films with the most awards were Franco-Afghan film The Patience Stone, which won the FIPRESCI Prize and Young Jury Prize, as well as Best Actress (Golshifteh Farahani), and Israeli film Epilogue, with Best Actor (Yosef Carmon) and Best Screenplay. The screenplay was written by the film’s director Amir Manor. Also Bosnian film Children of Sarajevo keep on with its life this time with Best Production Design (Best Art Direction) and Beyond The Hills directed by Romanian film director Cristian Mungiu that won the Jury Special Prize.

The International Jury of the ANIMAFICX Section of the 50th. Gijón International Film Festival, formed by Raúl García, Chelo Loureiro, Pablo Llorens Serrano and Luis da Matta, has awarded the PREMIO ANIMAFICX or ANIMAFICX Prize film Le chat du rabbin by Joann Sfar and Antoine Delesvaux and a few Special Mentions. And also Viagem a Portugal won the same in the Rellumes Section of the festival. There are more awards that you can actually review and read about on the site of festival www.en.fic.gijon.es

Eventually I would mention animation film I really liked Le magasin des suicides by French film director Patrice Leconte that won a Special Mention at the ANIMAFICX Section at Gijon. Adapted from the French book called Le Magazine des Suicides (The Suicide Shop) written by Jean Teulé. A stylish black comedy for young people, started the life on Cannes Film Festival 2012, where it has been shown to a bunch of school children and has been premiered at Annecy Film Festival 2012. According to the author of the feature Leconte the novel was impossible to adapt for the big screen and animation may be successful due to a humor because it creates a distance in relation to reality. It is a fantasy that steps dangerously into a real life, relating problem of increased number of suicides and depression. A seriously good film.

American Independent Film at Gijon Film Festival

I would also mention two excellent American Indy independent films shown on Festival International de Cine de Gijon 2012. An indy independent film Between Us directed by Dan Mirvish also a co funder of the Slamdance Film Festival, film that officially closed the festival. It is based on off Broadway play premiered at Manhattan Theatre Club quite similar to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf type of camera film and a dark story that explores better friendships and complicated relationships in nowadays with excellent crew Julia Stiles, Melissa George, Taye Diggs, and David Harbour. And an another independent American film that was in the official selection and was one of the candidates for our FIPRESCI Award California Solo directed by Marshall Lewy starring with indie king Scottish actor, an absolutely brilliant Robert Carlyle. Carlyle here gives us a dynamic and above all charismatic characters, inhabited all over by Carlyle, with plenty of sensitivity and with its strong naturalistic performance, relying just on a big smile and charming Scottish accent. He is giving us a story about an old rock star, out of control that settled in California and struggles to put the ends together. Robert Carlyle knows real life aging rock stars just alike living in California, so the role was not that hard for him, said the director of California Solo Marshall Lewy, also guest of the festival in Gijon.