16th Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival

The 16th edition of the Festival do Rio (Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival) took place in Rio, perhaps the most vibrant city in Brazil, from 24 September to 8 October 2014. The numbers were astounding: more than 350 films in several movie theaters were presented in this large city of more than 6 million people.

From this huge quantity of films all the 20 sections were made up. The most important is the competitive section Premiere Brazil, with 20 movies (10 features films and 10 documentaries). Mexico was the focus country, with 13 features films made in 2013 and 2014.

The selection to be considered for the FIPRESCI prize was made up of first and second movies from Premiere Brazil (only fiction films, not documentaries), Focus Mexico and Latin Premiere (18 fiction feature films from Latin America).

The awards (Redentor Trophy) for Best Fiction Feature, Best Director (Lírio Ferrereira) and Best Supporting Actor (Rômulo Braga) went to Blue Blood (Sangue Azul), the big winner of Rio 2014.

The second most awarded movie was Absence (Ausencia), directed by Chico Teixeira, which won Best Actor for Matheus Fagundes and the Special Jury Mention.

The Best Actress was Bianca Joy Porte for the uneven I Swear I’ll Leave This Town and the Best Supporting Actress was Fernanda Rocha for the joyful and nostalgic The Last Drive-In (O Último Cine Drive-In).

The Best Screenplay award went to Murillo Salles for Means to and End (O Fim e os Meios), Best Editing went to Luis Marques for I Touched All Your Stuff (A Vida Privada das Hipopotamos), and the Best Photography went to André Brendao for Obra, which also won the FIPRESCI prize.

The big winner in the documentary section was Point Blank (À Queima Roupa): it won the Best Feature Length Documentary and its director, Theresa Jessouroun, was named Best Director.

The Best Feature of the New Trends Brazilian Section was Castanha, directed by Davi Pretton. The Felix Award (for a movie that in some way represents LGBT culture) went to the Greek film Xenia for Best Fiction Feature and Tie and Red Nail (De Gravata e Unha Vermelha), a Brazilian film directed by Miriam Chnaiderman, for Best Documentary.

The Audience Awards went to Casa Grande, directed by Fellipe Gamarano (Best Fiction Feature) and Favela Gay, directed by Rodrigo Felha (Best Feature Documentary Film).

Finally, the “The International Critics Prize” (FIPRESCI Prize) for best Latin American Feature (first and seconds films) went to Obra (Brazil, 2014), by newcomer Gregorio Graziosi. (Ernesto Diezmartinez)

Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival: www.festivaldorio.com.br