San Sebastian (Spain) (AFP)
The film "Pacificado" by American Paxton Winters, a story of a power struggle in a gang in a favela in Rio de Janeiro, received on Saturday the Golden Shell, main award of the Film Festival of St. Sebastian, in the north of Spain.
"Pacificado" also won Best Actor for Brazilian Bukassa Kabengele, and Best Picture.
Produced by Darren Aronofsky ("Requiem for a Dream", "Black Swan"), the film was shot in the favela of Morro dos Prazeres, where lives the director, in collaboration with the local residents and in very difficult conditions, between shootings and police raids.
Receiving the trophy, Paxton Winters thanked the favela residents "who showed me what a true community is and who made the film for us".
The film tells the story of Jaca, played by Bukassa Kabengele, a former boss who returned to Morro dos Prazeres after fourteen years in prison. He finds a favela "pacified" by the police because of the 2016 Olympic Games, and must then recompose his relationship with his 13-year-old daughter, Tati, interpreted by a real resident of the favela, Cassia Gil.
"Pacificado" was one of fifteen films of the official selection in San Sebastián.
The Best Director Award went to Spanish Basque filmmakers Aitor Arregi, José Mari Goenaga and Jon Garaño, for "La trinchera infinita" ("The Infinite Trench"), who have been working together for twenty years. The trophy for the best actress returned to the Spanish Greta Fernandez for her role in "The Hija of a Ladron" ("The Girl of a Thief") Belén Funes.
The jury, chaired by Irish director Neil Jordan, presented a special prize to Alice Winocour's French film "Proxima" with Eva Green, who plays an astronaut.
© 2019 AFP