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I Dutch film «Ma mére et moi» wins Second Prize and the Somali film «Will my parents come to see me» receives a special mention from the jury

I The Festival also distinguishes «Ulises» by Félix Brixel, as the best Galician short film, and «Arquitectura Emocional 1959», by León Siminiani, wins the award for the best Spanish film

I «30′ 70 60′ 120», by Vigo director Marta Valverde, is the winner in the «GZ_00» section, which showcases the work of the new generation of Galician audiovisual

I A Coruña-born actress Luisa Merelas received the FICBUEU 2023 Galician Cinema Award in recognition of her artistic career

BUEU. Pontevedra. 16.09.23. Endless Sea, by American director Sam Shainberg, is the winning short film of the «Official Competition» of the 16th edition of the FICBUEU. It was announced yesterday by the Councillor of Culture of Bueu (Pontevedra), Carmen García, in a ceremony held at the Centro Social do Mar of Bueu. Among the 28 films in competition, the jury awarded this film with the FICBUEU First Prize (2,000 euros), «for its raw energy, its defiant production, its magnetic lead performance and a welcome touch of black humour».

Sam Shainberg

This is how its members –film producers Silvia Lobo and Manuel Monzón together with Mihai Chirilov, artistic director, critic and member of the European Film Academy– referred to this film, which tells the «gripping story of survival» of Carol, a 70-year-old woman «who fights against the system» when she cannot afford to buy her heart medication.

The film Ma mére et moi, by Dutch filmmaker Emma Branderhorst, won the FICBUEU Second Prize for «subtly and delicately capturing that decisive moment that everyone identifies with, when a child has to grow up and a mother has to let go». That is the story –that of young Kees and her mother Lois– that the short film reflects. Emma Branderhorst, who last year won the Audience Award with Spotless, a film in which she made menstrual poverty visible, was unable to collect the Festival’s prize (worth 1,000 euros) in person, but the film’s screenwriter, Nena van Driel, did. The deputy mayoress of Bueu, Isabel Quintás, was in charge of presenting it to her. Van Driel spoke to the audience at the Festival to thank the jury for the award, who chose Ma mére et moi from among «so many inspiring films» and said that «it has been an honour that our film has been screened with all of them». «It’s very exciting to see how many people from the area are interested in short films at this festival. It’s really something special», she added.

The jury also gave a special mention to Somali filmmaker Mo Harawe’s Will my parents come to see me, «a powerful short film about holding on to life when facing the death penalty».

The official list of winners of the FICBUEU 2023 is completed with two more films. One of them is Ulises, by Félix Brixel, filmmaker from Rianxo, who won the Best Galician Short Film Award for his «enigmatic and intriguing story about brotherly love» and the «stunning visuals» that complement it. Brixel received the award from Fon Cortizo, from the Asociación Galega de Profesionais da Dirección e Realización (CREA). The other distinguished film is Arquitectura emocional 1959, by the Cantabrian director León Siminiani, which won the award for Best Spanish Short Film. The jury highlighted «its playful originality, mixing past and present, love and politics, through cinema and architecture».

The audience decides

The Audience Award, voted for by the spectators of FICBUEU, goes this year to the Canadian film Invincible, by Vincent René-Lortie, inspired by a true story. The film tells the story of the last 48 hours of the life of a 14-year-old teenager held in a juvenile detention centre and in urgent need of freedom was the one that had the greatest impact on the audience.

Actress Luisa Merelas honoured

This year’s honorary award, the FICBUEU Galician Cinema Award, went to the actress Luisa Merelas, who was present at the event held in Bueu. The performer of such well-known series as Pratos Combinados or Fariña or films such as Los lunes al sol or, more recently, As bestas, was honoured yesterday at the Festival for her long career and her contribution to the Galician audiovisual sector.

New filmmakers awrads

The director Anxos Fazáns, on behalf of the Descubertas jury, was responsible for announcing the awards chosen in the categories «GZ_00», «Descubertas» and «Escolas Internacionais». The short film 30′ 70 60′ 120, by Vigo director Marta Valverde, won the award in the first of the three sections, created to showcase the work being developed by the new generation of filmmakers in Galicia. In fact, Valverde was the winner with a «risky piece that mixes genres and styles and comes off very well». In the «Descubertas» section, the winning short film in this edition is Buurman Abdi, by the Dutch Douwe Dijkstra. The jury valued its originality and capacity for transgression, «full of emotion and humour». In «Escolas Internacionais», a space that brings together some of the most outstanding work produced in film schools around the world, the winner was the Italian film Raíces, from the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. Sara Moschini, one of the film’s directors, together with Maddalena Brozzi and Laura Cagnoni, accepted the award for a film that deals with formal beauty and narrative simplicity with the universe surrounding the loss of a loved one.

All the short films that make up the list of winners of the FICBUEU 2023 will be shown together tomorrow, Sunday, in a special screening that will take place, from 20.30 hours, at the Auditorium of the Centro Social do Mar in Bueu.