'PETIT PAYS', 'THE GOOD TRAITOR' AND 'SOMBRA' THE GREAT WINNERS OF THE BCN FILM FEST

'Petit Pays', the latest work by french director Eric Barbier, has been awarded the Best Film Award at the 5th Barcelona-Sant Jordi International Film Festival (BCN FILM FEST). The film is an adaptation of Gaël Faye's novel about how a child' s happy life in Burundi changed radically when violence broke out in Rwanda in 1993.

The complete list of BCN FILM FEST 2021 is as follows:

BEST FILM AWARD
'Petit Pays', 
for Eric Barbier

ACECC CRITICS AWARD
"Sombra", 
for Bruno Gascon

BEST SCREENPLAY
Massoud Bakhshi,
for 'Yalda, a night for forgiveness'

BEST ACTOR AWARD
Ulrich Thomsen, 
for 'The good traitor'

*** Special Mention for the young protagonists of 'Petit Pays':
Djibril Vancoppenolle and Dayla De Medina

BEST ACTRESS (ex aequo)
Isabelle Kabano, 
for 'Petit Pays'

Denise Gough, 
for 'The good traitor'

CASTELL DE PERALADA FESTIVAL AWARD TO THE BEST MUSIC (ex aequo)
Michele Braga,
for 'Il cativo poeta'

Steven Bramson,
for 'Last Call'

FILM-HISTÒRIA (UB) AWARD FOR THE BEST FILM FOR ITS HISTORICAL VALUES
“Sombra”,
de Bruno Gascon

*** Special Mention to 'Wife of a Spy'
by Kiyoshi Kurosawa

The festival had more than 11,000 spectators, an increase of 37% over the previous year. A total of 97 of 121 public sessions were fully booked. Both last year and this year the capacity of the rooms has been 50% but this year the curfew has been added as a restrictive measure.

"Better, impossible", described festival director Conxita Casanovas in the 2021 edition. "This fifth edition has been round, with a great involvement of the sector, and where we have confirmed that there is an audience hungry for film culture. "The films have been interesting, the cinemas have been filled and the guests have shone. The good results have positioned us as the Barcelona International Film Festival and leave us in an unbeatable position to press the accelerator."

The BCN FILM FEST 2021 has had:

- 60 films including: 4 world premieres, 1 international, 3 European, 17 spanish, and 7 Catalan. 

- 4 Festival venues: Cinemes Verdi, Institut Français, CASA SEAT and CaixaForum of Barcelona.

- 5 civic centers in Barcelona will offer films from the Imprescindibles's section during April and May 2021.

- 17 film clubs in Catalonia will offer films from the Imprescindibles's section during May and June 2021.

- 25 presentations and talks with the presence of the talent, among others, of Isabelle Huppert, Johnny Depp, Eric Barbier, Fernando Trueba, Fernando Colomo, Karra Elejalde, Toni Acosta, Álex García, Marta Buchaca, Carmen Chaplin, Clara Lago and Eduard Cortés.

- 1 virtual Q&A with Nicolas Winding Refn, director of 'Valhalla Rising'.

- 4th Day of Screenwriters and Industry with 2 round tables: 'Screenwriters and producers, a creative tandem' with Valérie Delpierre, Jaime Rosales, Celia Rico, Sandra Tapia and Bárbara Díez and 'Writing with light' with Isabel Coixet, David Ilundain, Xavi Giménez and Isaac Vila.

- 1 Q&A book presentation: "Les estructures elementals de la narrativa" by Albert Sánchez Piñol.

The sixth edition of the BCN FILM FEST will take place from 21st to 29th April 2022.