Palmarès

GDA DIRECTOR’S AWARD
The jury, headed by filmmaker Joanna Hogg, coordinated by Karel Och, director of the Karlovy Vary festival, supported by Europa Cinemas and Cineuropa, and composed by David Bakum (Germany), Victor Courgeon (France), Maarja Hindoalla (Estonia), Dimosthenis Kontes (Greece), Amalia Mititelu (Romania), Saulė Savanevičiūtė (Lithuania), Esmée van Loon (Netherlands), Gregor Valentovic (Slovakia), Isabella Weber (Italy), and Chris Zahariev (Bulgaria) – all former participants in the ’27 Times Cinema’ project, inaugurated in 2010 with the European Parliament – awarded, within the framework of the Official Selection, the GdA Director’s Award to
Manas by Marianna Brennand with the following motivation:

It is a great privilege to announce this year’s winner of the Giornate degli Autori Jury Award 2024. We engaged in passionate discussions of 10 films that explore the craft of cinema in incredibly touching and versatile ways and would like to thank the curational vision of Giornate degli Autori. Ultimately, us, the jury, are happy about having found each other in a shared experience with one film especially. Manas is a window into a world that is created with so much detail that it welcomes the audience into an immersive and emotional journey to be changed. Manas won our hearts by carefully and caringly tacking the extremely sensitive and difficult topic of abuse, both in domestic and more systematic contexts. While the setting of the island of Marajó was yet to be discovered, the director portrayed something so universal, that each of us could resonate with deeply. This film stood out from the programme with its masterful craftsmanship, brilliant performances and strong message that we believe will resonate with many people around the world, raising awareness and calling for change. Thank you to Marianna Brennand for making these stories visible, and thank you to Giornate degli Autori for giving it a stage.

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD goes to
Taxi Monamour by Ciro De Caro

LABEL EUROPA CINEMAS
The Jury consisted of: Daira Āboliņa (Splendid Palace, Riga, Latvia), António Costa Valente (Teatro Aveirense, Aveiro, Portugal), Andrea Porta (Cinema Teatro Nuovo, Varese, Italy) and Jana Trnková (Head of PR & Marketing, Kino Světozor, Prague, Czech Republic)
Alpha. by Jan-Willem van Ewijk with the following motivation:

Jan-Willem van Ewijk’s Alpha. was our unanimous choice for this year’s Europa Cinemas Label in Venice. We were all very impressed by the script, editing, photography and character development in this dynamic and believable study of the relationship between father and son. We also really liked the choice of music, and the absence of any sentimentality – it does not preach. Their petty grievances and posturing early on in the film are re-valuated against the empty, majestic backdrop of the vast, silent mountains. The film is beautifully shot but the director never allows the audience’s attention to waver from the intensity of the physical and emotional interaction between father and son as they are faced with a fight for survival. A real tour de force which we think audiences will connect with. Congratulations!

QUEER LION AWARD
The jurors Daniel N. Casagrande (journalist and film critic, member of the National Union of Italian Film Critics, creator and founder of the award, President of the Queer Lion Association), Marco Busato (collaborator of Radio Capodistria), Jani Kuštrin (cultural operator), and Adriano Virone (LGBTQ activist) have awarded the Queer Lion Award to
Alma Del Desierto by Mónica Taboada-Tapia with the following motivation:

For having addressed – through a powerful cinematic gaze that transcends the documentary genre – the complex issues of gender identity, ethnicity, citizenship and civil rights, blending the quest for increased legitimacy by the Wayuu population with the fight of transgender protagonist Georgina who, through a 45 year long peaceful, dignified and stoic battle, achieved official recognition of her anagraphic identity.

PREMIO AUTRICI UNDER 40 VALENTINA PEDICINI
The jury, composed of Gina Annunziata (Professor and essayist – Academy of Fine Arts of Naples), Antonella Di Nocera (Director of the festival Venice in Naples. Extended Cinema), Titta Fiore (Journalist and film critic, president of the Campania Region Film Commission), Anna Masecchia (Professor and essayist – University of Florence), Cristina Piccino (Journalist and film critic) has awarded the special mention for directing and screenplay to
Xiaoxuan Jiang for the film To Kill A Mongolian Horse

PREMIO CINEMA & ARTS
The jury, composed of the international director Alessio Nardin, Oliviero Ponte di Pino, critic and scholar, and Antonio Giuseppe Bia, young actor, alongside a group of students from the Three-Year Program for Directors and Actors of the Accademia Eleonora Duse Centro Sperimentale di Cinema e Arti Performative of Cinema and Performing Arts, and actors from the international masterclasses of the Accademia Duse, has awarded the prize for best multi-disciplinary artist to
The Quay Brothers who presented at  Giornate degli Autori the film Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass.

The film, dedicated to the work of Bruno Schulz, is the result of research and a production process that lasted 19 years. It is therefore the full expression of their talent and versatility. The refined musical score, in addition to being the origin of the puppets’ movements, progressively becomes an indispensable tool and narrative language in the development of the film’s various scenes. The structure of the work revolves around an almost theatrical division of prologue, development, and epilogue. The central part immerses the viewer in a dreamlike world that is not simulated, but concretely created with rare mastery. The intertwining of the various disciplines in which the Quay brothers excel (set design, illustration, puppet animation with the presence of live actors) contributes, along with Schulz’s stories, to creating a world that is absurd yet real, of unsettling and poignant beauty.

FONDAZIONE FAI PERSONA LAVORO AMBIENTE AWARD
Special Mention on the theme of Work to
Sugar Island by Johanné Gómez Terrero with the following motivation:

The film follows the story of a very young woman living in the rural setting of sugar cane plantations in the Dominican Republic. In addressing the themes of the mechanization of agricultural labor and the lack of recognition of fundamental workers’ rights, such as pensions, it portrays a world in transition, yet still oppressed by colonial legacies and labor exploitation. The film combines the depiction of labor and the laborers’ union struggles with the ethno-anthropological dimension of traditional rites and dances. The story is also a powerful, and in this sense universal, critique of the many-layered ethnic discriminations.

INCLUSION AND SUSTAINABILITY EDIPO RE AWARD
The jurors Esmeralda Calabria, Francesca d’Aloja and Federica Di Giacomo assigned a special mention of the Edipo Re Award for inclusion to
Sugar Island by Johanné Gómez Terrero with the following motivation:
An intriguing film that addresses the rarely represented theme of the historical exploitation of Haitian workers in the Dominican Republic, deprived of fundamental rights. Without overlooking the spiritual dimension inherent in Haitian culture, director Johanne Gómez Terrero’s vision reveals a remarkable visual, allegorical, and sensory power, with skillful direction of the actors.