The ALHAMBRA DE ORO, the prize for best feature-length film, which is accompanied by 50,000 euros and a trophy, was awarded to the film The Other Bank (Georgia/Kazakhstan, 2009) by the Georgian director, George Ovashvili.

The ALHAMBRA DE PLATA, the prize for best director of a feature-length film, which is accompanied by 30,000 euros and a trophy, was awarded to the film Before the Burial (Iran, 2008) by the Iranian director, Behnam Behzadi.

The ALHAMBRA DE BRONCE, the Special Jury Prize, which is accompanied by 15,000 euros and a trophy, was awarded to the film Jalainur (China, 2008) by the Chinese director, Zhao Ye.

The AUDIENCE AWARD for the best film, which is accompanied by 5,000 euros and a trophy, was awarded to the film $9.99 (Israel/Australia, 2008) by the Israeli director, Tatia Rosenthal.

The JURY SPECIAL MENTION for best actress was awarded to Irina Agejkina for her performance in the film Songs from the Southern Seas, and for best actor to Melih Selçuk for the film Milk.

The RTVA MEDITERRÁNEOS AWARD, sponsored by Cajasol for the best film produced in a country bordering the Mediterranean and accompanied by 6,000 Euros for the acquisition of broadcasting rights in Andalusia, was awarded to the film Slingshot hip hop (Palestine/United States, 2008) by the director of Palestinian descent, Jackie Reem Salloum.

The NETPAC AWARD, granted ex aequo on equal terms to the two best Asian films, went to the film Flowers of the SkyBefore the Burial (Iran, 2008) by the Iranian director Behnam Behzadi. (Sri Lanka, 2008) by the Sri Lankan director Prasanna Vithanage and the film

The film The Other Bank (Georgia/Kazakhstan, 2009), winner of the Alhambra de Oro, will be shown this evening at 19:00 in the Teatro Isabel la Católica.

At 22:30 in the Corral del Carbón, there will be a showing of the film Slingshot Hip Hop, winner of the Mediterráneos Award. At that same time, the film $9.99 which won the Audience Award, will be shown in the Plaza de las Pasiegas.

The Festival will finish up a week of films and activities with a closing ceremony that will be held in the Patio de los Aljibes at the Alhambra with the showing of the film film Arráncame la vida [Tear This Heart Out] (Mexico, 2008) by the Mexican director, Roberto Sneider, an adaptation of the well-known novel by Ángeles Mastretta and the biggest box-office hit in Mexican cinemas.

Continuing Cines del Sur’s Open Screenings shows, today Friday June 19th at 22:30 in the Plaza de las Pasiegas, the Indian director Sooni Taraporevala will present her film debut, Little Zizou as part of the Itineraries Section.

was born in Mumbai – then known as Bombay (India) in 1957. In 1979, she completed her studies in English Literature, Film and Photography at Harvard University. After post-graduate work in Film Studies at the University of New York, she returned to India to work as a freelance photographer. She has had exhibits in India, the United States, France and Great Britain. Her first film screenplay, written for the film Salaam Bombay!, was enormously successful, and allowed her to devote herself to writing screenplays for a long time in which she collaborated with directors and producers until she returned to India in 1993. In 2000, she published a compilation of her photographic works entitled, Parsis: The Zoroastrians of India – A Photographic Journey.

The film Little Zizou follows the steps of Xerxes, who is known as ‘little Zizou’, an 11-year-old Parsi boy who is mad about football and fervently dreams that his idol Zinedine Zidane will visit Mumbai. His older brother is a gifted artist, full of fantasies that he brings to reality in the most surprising way imaginable. His father, Khodaiji, is a self-proclaimed protector of the faith, moved by a desire for power, who enjoys the attention (and donations) of hopeful believers. Art is crazy in (unrequited) love for the daughter of Khodaiji’s archrival, Pressvala, a free-thinking journalist. Conflict breaks out when Pressvala writes a biting criticism of the aspiring prophet Khodaiji and the public reacts en masse.

For the first time, the couple formed by the screenwriter Paz Alicia Garciadiego and the Mexican director Arturo Ripstein is sitting down together to speak in public about their films, on Friday the 19th at 19:30 in the Teatro Isidoro Márquez de CajaGRANADA (Avda de la Ciencia, 2).

Arturo Ripstein was born in Mexico in 1943. A renowned filmmaker and screenwriter, his relationship with the film world is closely tied to his family history: his father was a famous producer. In 1962, Ripstein worked as assistant director on Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel. In 1972, he wrote the screenplay for Jorge Fons’ Cinco mil dólares de recompensa. In this period of great activity, Ripstein, along with Felipe Cazals, Pedro F. Miret, Tomás Pérez Turrent and Rafael Castanedo, founded the company, Cine Independiente de México, in order to make several experimental short films. In 1965, he directed his first work, Tiempo de morir [Time to Die], with a screenplay by Carlos Fuentes and Gabriel García Márquez, producing a film markedly influenced by the North American western.
In 1975, he directed his first international film, Foxtrot, which was followed by a series of very noteworthy adaptations, culminating in La seducción [Seduction] in 1979. During the 1970s, Ripstein grew stronger as a director and began one of the most productive stages of his career, which included some of the most important works in modern Mexican film: El castillo de la pureza [Castle of Purity], El lugar sin límites [The Place without Limits] and Cadena perpetua.
In 1985, he directed El imperio de la fortuna [The Realm of Fortune], an adaptation of a story by Juan Rulfo, which brought him international success. His subsequent filmography is notable for its collaboration with the writer Paz Alicia Garciadiego, which has produced works like Principio y fin [The Beginning and the End], winner of the Concha de Oro at the San Sebastian International Film Festival in 1993 and Profundo Carmesí [Deep Crimson], which won the Osella d’oro at the Venice Film Festival in 1996. They have been making films for more than twenty years together which include El imperio de la fortuna (1986), Mentiras piadosas [Love Lies] (1987), Profundo Carmesí, El evangelio de las maravillas [Divine] (1998), El coronel no tiene quien le escriba [No One Writes to the Colonel] (1999) (based on the novel of the same name by Gabriel García Márquez) and La virgen de la lujuria [The Virgin of Lust] (2002).

Continuing Cines del Sur’s Open Screenings shows, on Thursday June 18th at 22:00 in the Palacio de los Córdova (Cuesta del Chapiz), the singer and director Fermín Muguruza and the diector Javier Corcuera will present their latest film, Checkpoint Rock: Songs from Palestine.

The film takes us on a journey to a territory which is the object of the whole world’s attention, but about which almost nothing is known.

What music gives a voice and melody to this mythic place? Who are its most representative performers and how do they live? What do they think about the unique fate that they are destined to live and how do they address it in their lyrics and tunes?

The film ranges from the advertisements and neon of Tel Aviv to the poverty and despair of the occupied territories on the West Bank, to the large concentration camp that the Gaza Strip has become. With Checkpoint Rock: Songs from Palestine, Fermín Muguruza and Javier Corcuera present a journey that will change our view of this people in conflict.

En Escena’s workshops started last Monday. It will be possible to follow their development at the festival’s meeting point at Bibarambla square. More photos available at the Festival’s flickr website.