‘20,000 species of bees’ and ‘Las hijas’ win the Biznaga de Oro for the best films at the 26th Malaga Festival

For its part, the Special Jury Prize went to the film ‘Bajo terapia’, by Gerardo Herrero, “for all its actors and actresses”. The Silver Biznaga for Best Actor has been awarded to Alberto Ammann for his character in ‘Upon entry’; while the award for Best Actress went to María Vázquez for ‘Matria’.

The jury has awarded the Biznaga for Best Director to Matías Bize for ‘El Punishment’, as announced this Saturday by the director of the contest, Juan Antonio Vigar, accompanied by representatives of the festival juries.

The Silver Biznaga for Best Supporting Female Performance went to Patricia López Arnaiz for ‘20,000 species of bees’, while Jorge Marrale was chosen for Best Supporting Male Performance for ‘Empieza el baile’.

Miguel Ibáñez and Elena Trapé have been recognized with the Best Screenplay for ‘Els encantats’, Pablo Mondragón has won the award for Best Music for ‘Rebelión’, Serguei Saldívar Tanaka has won the Silver Biznaga for Best Photography for ‘Red Shoes’ and the editing of ‘Saudade fez morada aqui dentro’ won Best Editing, the work of Haroldo Borges and Juliano Castro.

That has been the verdict of the Jury of the Official Section of Feature Films in the competition of the 26th edition of the Malaga Festival, made up of Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón as president, Gonzalo Miró, Gabriela Sandoval, Pablo Stoll and Julieta Zylberberg.

As for the complementary prizes, the Biznaga de Plata Special Award from the Critics’ Jury -made up of Alfonso Caro, Ana Sánchez de la Nieta and Carlos Zanón- went to ‘Desperté con un sueño’, by director Pablo Solarz.

The Audience Award went to ‘Empieza el baile’, by Marina Seresesky. It is a decision averaged 50% between the vote of the public attending the room and the Popular Jury of the Official Section of Feature Films of the contest.

For its part, the Official Jury of the ZonaZine Section has awarded the Silver Biznaga for Best Spanish Film to ‘Matar cangrejos’, by Omar Al Abdul Razzak, and the Silver Biznaga for Best Ibero-American Film to ‘Diogenes’, by Leonardo Barbuy La Torre, who has also received the award for Best Director.

The Best Female Performance in the Zonazine section has been by Paula Campos, for ‘Matar cangrejos’, and her male counterpart has been Saturnino García, for ‘Land of our mothers’. This last film, the work of Liz Lobato, has also won the Biznaga de Plata Audience Award.

The Jury of the Official Section of Documentaries in the contest has awarded the Silver Biznaga for Best Documentary, endowed with 4,000 euros, to ‘El matadero’, by Fernando Fraguela Fosado. The award for Best Director went to Sofía Paoli Thorne, for ‘Guapo’y’. The Young Documentary Jury of the University of Malaga (UMA) has given the Audience Award to ‘Remember my name’, by Elena Molina.

The Audience Award for Best Film in the ‘Mosaico. International Panorama’ has been awarded to ‘En corps (A Step Forward)’, by Cédric Klapisch, which has thus achieved 8,000 euros for its distribution in Spain.

Short Film Awards

With regard to the official short film section, the Silver Biznaga for Best Documentary Short Film, endowed with 2,000 euros, has been received by ‘Aqueronte’, by Manuel Muñoz Rivas. The Jury’s Special Mention went to ‘El bus’, by Sandra Reina, while the Audience Award granted by the UMA Young Documentary Jury went to ‘Les més grans’, by Núria Ubach, Marta Codesido, Dubi Cano and Ulrika Anderson.

The Best Fiction Short Film, endowed with 2,000 euros, has been received by ‘Mamá’, by Miguel Azurmendi Gómez. The Silver Biznaga for Best Director went to Jorge Cañada Escorihuela for ‘El padre bueno’; the Best Female Performance, to Mayte Atarés for ‘Mamá’; and his male counterpart, Àlex Monner for ‘Summer Storm’. ‘Mamá’ has also won the Biznaga de Plata Audience Award.

In the official section of Animazine Short Films, the one chosen as Best Short Film –endowed with 2,000 euros– has been ‘The longest night dawns’, by Lorena Ares and Carlos F. de Vigo. The Audience Award in this category has been awarded to ‘Diari d’un operador cinematogràfic’, by Dani Seguí Florit.

As for the Málaga Short Films, the award for Best Fiction Short Film, worth 1,000 euros, went to ‘Anticlimax’, a work by Néstor López and Óscar Romero. The award for Best Documentary, Animation or Experimental Short Film –endowed with 1,000 euros– has gone to ‘Retap’, by Víctor Marín. The Audience Award in this section went to ‘La acampada’, by Afioco Gnecco and Enrique Cervantes.

The UMA Youth Jury has recognized ‘Las buenas compañías’, by Sílvia Munt, as Best Official Section Feature Film; the Asecan Opera Prima Award went to ‘Matria’, by Álvaro Gago; the Feroz Puerta Oscura award went to ‘20,000 species of bees’ and the Signis Award went to ‘The Punishment’, by Matías Bize.