“The Riverbank” and “Elza” won top honors at this year’s Rio Film Festival. The awards ceremony took place tonight at the Odeon cinema. “The Riverbank” got Best Fiction Feature Film, while “Elza” took Best Documentary Feature Film. Many other Brazilian films also showed their strength by winning major festival awards.
Enock Carvalho and Matheus Farias’ Locarno-winning “The Riverbank” has taken Best Fiction Feature Film at this year’s Rio Film Festival, with Eryk Rocha’s “Elza” scoring Best Documentary Feature Film. The awards were handed out tonight at an imposing ceremony at Rio de Janeiro’s legendary Odeon cinema.
“The Riverbank” is set in Recife and follows young cleaner Izaquiel (Caique Copque), whose nightly search for intimacy leads him to magnetic fisherman Jeremias (Ítalo Martins). As violence closes in, both embark on a journey into the depths of the mangroves, where reality and myth intertwine, exposing the invisible structures of power that govern their world. This is the duo’s directorial feature debut, and it comes a few months after Farias won a Platino Award for his editing of Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Oscar-nominated “The Secret Agent.”
“Elza” marks the follow-up to Rocha’s “The Falling Sky,” which premiered to great acclaim at Directors’ Fortnight. The film is a comprehensive documentary about one of Brazil’s most renowned singers and public figures, Elza Soares. Drawing on rare archival materials and intimate conversations between Soares and the director during the final years of her life, “Elza” traces the icon’s seven-decade career while revealing the many facets of the woman behind the legend. The project comes with the backing of high-calibre partners, including Aruac Filmes (“Cinema Novo”), Maria Farinha Filmes (“The Beginning of Life”), Globo Filmes (“I’m Still Here”), RAI Cinema and Gullane+.
Other major Brazilian films of the year have also taken top awards, including Gabriel Martins’s Toronto-selected “On Behalf of My Son,” Venice-selected “London” by Victor di Marco and Márcio Picoli, and Ricardo Alves Jr.’s “The French Teacher,” which just bowed at San Sebastián.
This year’s Premiére Brasil jury was presided over by veteran “La Bola Negra” producer Esther García and also included co-director of programming at the Berlinale, Jacqueline Lyanga; French producer Sophie Erbs; composer Flavia Tygel; and casting director Marcela Altberg.
The New Trends jury was presided over by director and editor Karen Harley; screenwriter Maira Oliveira; producer Dora Amorim; director and screenwriter Guto Parente. The Felix Jury, dedicated to films broaching LGBTQIA+ issues, was presided over by lawyer Ericka Gavinho; director and screenwriter Clara Anastacia; cultural critic Guilherme Terri, also known as Rita Von Hunty; filmmaker Vita; and cultural programmer Rodrigo Gerace.
See full list of winners below:
Premiére Brasil
Fiction Feature Film: “The Riverbank,” dir. Enock Carvalho, Matheus Farias
Documentary Feature Film: “Elza,” dir. Eryk Rocha
Short Film: “Santo,” dir. Maria Luísa Alves
Director – Fiction: Gabriel Martins, “On Behalf of My Son”
Director – Documentary: Camila Valença, “Cão Sem Plumas”
Actor: Victor di Marco, “London”
Actress – ex aequo: Isabel Teixeira, “Diário do Fogo” and Grace Passô, “The French Teacher”
Supporting Actor: Pedro Goifman, “The French Teacher”
Supporting Actress: Renna Costa, Artia and Ísis Broken, for “The Riverbank”Screenplay: “On Behalf of My Son,” Gabriel Martins
Editing – ex aequo: Cristina Amaral, Fabio Meira and Juliano Castro, “A Extraordinária Vida de Vera Valdez” and Cristiane Oliveira and Tula Anagnostopoulos, “Foi Ali Guardar o Coração na Geladeira”
Cinematography: Luciana Baseggio, “The Riverbank”
Art Direction: Ana Paula Cardoso, “Funk”
Costume Design: Samy Sill, “London”
Sound Design: Moabe Filho, Guma Farias, Daniel Turini and João Victor Coura, “The Riverbank”
Original Score: Florencia Di Concilio, “The French Teacher”
Jury Award: “O Filho da Puta,” dir. Erica Maradona, Tania Anaya, Otto Guerra and Sávio Leite
Documentary Feature – Audience Award: “Fui Olhar Você Dormir,” dir. Anna Azevedo
Fiction Feature – Audience Award: “On Behalf of My Son,” dir. Gabriel Martins
Novos Rumos (New Trends)
Feature Film: “Não Estamos Sonhando,” dir. Ulisses Arthur
Short Film: “Ondas de Silêncio,” dir. Caio J. Bonfim
Director: Thais Fujinaga, “Talismã”
Actress: Nina Prado, “O Deserto de Luiza”
Actor: Pedro Leão, “Não Estamos Sonhando”
Special Jury Award: Cas from “Um Domingo,” dir. Maíra Bühler, Rô Albuquerque
Best Feature Film – Audience Award: “O Deserto de Luiza,” dir. Alan Minas
Felix Awards (For LGBTQIA+-themed films)
Brazilian Film: “The Riverbank,” dir. Enock Carvalho, Matheus Farias
International Film: “À voix basse,” dir. Leyla Bouzid
Documentary: “Father, Father,” dir. Jake Witzenfeld
Special Jury Award: “Morfeu e Caronte,” dir. Jocimar Dias Jr, Luiz Ulian
Honorable Mention: “Elephants in the Fog,” dir. Abinash Bikram Shah
TV Globo Acquisition Award: “Maria Vitória,” dir. Mário Patrocínio
Telecine Acquisition Award: “Six Months in the Pink and Blue Building,” dir. Bruno Santamaría Razo