30th Venice International Film Critics' Week Awards Winners

A few minutes ago the few awards in this autonomous section were announced and the big winner is Tanna by Bentley Dean and Martin Butler.

Here are some excerpts from the official press release.

The audience award Premio del Publico Pietro Barzisa – 30. Settimana Internazionale della Critica for the best film of the 30th Venice International Film Critics’ Week, an independent section within the 72. Venice International Film Festival, goes to Tanna by Bentley Dean and Martin Butler.

Set amidst the unspoilt landscapes of the Vanuatu archipelago in the South Pacific, the film is a vibrant and eccentric melodrama that tells the story of the forbidden love between Wawa and Dain, a sort of a "Romeo and Juliet" of the Tanna island, who are forced to choose among the reasons of the heart and the future of their tribe, the Yakel.

We take this occasion to also announce the two awards that the FEDEORA (Federation of Film Critics of Europe and the Mediterranean) jury – composed by Dubravka Lakic (President), Rita Di Santo, Nenad Dukic and James Evans - allocates to the films of the Venice International Film Critics’ Week:

Best Film: Kalo Pothi – The Black Hen by Min Bahadur Bham.
It’s a splendid, little movie. A warm-hearted and affectionate tribute to a people who survive with tenacity and imagination.

Best Director of Photography: Bentley Dean for the film Tanna
The eye behind “Tanna” captures the subtleties and complexities of a culture under threat and provides the audience with a clear vision of that world.

Winners are below in *BLUE.

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7/23/15
One week before #Venezia72 announces this year festival lineup the collateral section from the Sindicato Nazionale Critici Cinematografici Italiani (SNCCI) announced their lineup with ten (10) films that include the seven (7) first feature films and three special events.

Founded by Lino Micciché in 1984, the Venice International Film Critics’ Week has been from the beginning committed to finding, promoting and consolidating new voices and emerging talents of world cinema. This year’s program is richer than ever and includes some celebrative moments that refer to our history: a Special Award to the best Debut over the last 30 years, conferred through a referendum by Italian Film Critics’ to director and actor Peter Mullan, that in 1998 revealed his talent within the Critics’ Week program with his film Orphans, for then to win a Golden Lion with Magdalene four years later. Orphans will be screened in the opening day of Critics’ Week, with the presence of the author.

The seven films in competition are eligible for the Lion of the Future - Luigi De Laurentiis Award given to first time directors in all festival sections and the Pietro Barzisa Audience Award given by the Circolo del Cinema di Verona. Once again FEDEORA will give two collateral prizes, one for Best Film and another for Best Script, Best Cinematography or Best Actor/Actress.

In Competition

Ana yurdu (Motherland), Senem Tuzen, Turkey and Greece
Banat (Il viaggio), Adriano Valerio, Italy, Romania, Bulgaria and Macedonia
*Kalo Pothi (The Black Hen), Min Bahadur Bham, Nepal, France and Germany
Light Years, Esther May Campbell, UK
Montanha, João Salaviza, Portugal and France
The Return, Green Zeng, Singapore
*Tanna, Martin Butler and Bentley Dean, Australia and Vanuatu

Pre-Opening Film – Special Event Out of Competition
Jia (The Family), Liu Shumin, Australia and China

Opening Film – Special Event Out of Competition – Premio Saturnia SIC 30 Special Award
Orphans, Peter Mullan, UK, 1998

Closing Film – Special Event Out of Competition
Bagnoli Jungle, Antonio Capuano,Italy

Check available trailers and info @MOC.

The closing event of this is edition is equally commemorative. In 1991 the Critics’ Week award went to Antonio Capuano’s Vito e gli altri (Vito and the others). Twenty-four years later and with a filmography that testifies a very personal and independent cinematographic path, never compromised with imperative fashions or tendencies, Capuano presents to Critics’ Week his latest film Bagnoli Jungle, yet another example of expressive and courageous freedom. A film that confronts three generations, through stories that merge into each other, that move in a difficult territory, often degraded but extremely vital as the northern periphery of Naples that developed around the former industrial complex of Bagnoli.

The collateral section will run from September 2 to September 12. To read info for each of the films go official site here.

The new opening sequence by Alessandro Rak