34th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival announces award winners

The 34^th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival announced this year’s juried award winners Sunday.

The festival, which began Jan. 5 with the Film Awards and will wrap up Monday with Best of the Fest, screened 134 films from 64 countries, including 27 premieres, organizers said in a press release. The lineup included 35 of the International Feature Film Oscar Submissions.

On Sunday evening, organizers also announced the two Audience Award winners:

Audience Award: Best Documentary Film – "Of Medicine and Miracles."

Audience Award: Best Fiction Film – "Argentina, 1985."

Below is the complete list of juried award winners.

FIPRESCI PRIZE

A special jury of international film critics reviewed 35 of the 93 official submissions for the Academy Awards International Feature Film category that were selected to screen at PSIFF.

FIPRESCI Prize for Best International Feature Film: "Saint Omer" (France), Director Alice Diop

FIPRESCI Prize for International Screenplay: "Alcarràs" (Spain), Screenwriters Carla Simón & Arnau Vilaró

FIPRESCI Prize for the Best Actress in a International Feature Film: Oksana Cherkashyna from "Klondike" (Ukraine)

FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actor in a International Feature Film: Ali Junejo from "Joyland" (Pakistan)

The FIPRESCI jury members were Andrew Kendall (Film Columnist, Stabroek News), Anders E Larsson (Writer, Editor, and Festival Director of Lund Fantastic Film Festival) and Robert Horton (Film Critic, Herald and Seattle Weekly).

Jury Statements

Best International Film: "We award the Best Picture Prize to 'Saint Omer' for using the ostensibly narrow framework of a heightened legal docudrama to expertly interrogate issues of society, culture, race and gender. Alice Diop, as screenwriter and director, delivers a film that explores different dynamics of Black women in contemporary France, drawing empathetic lead performances from Kayije Kagame and Guslagie Malanga (whose characters never interact, save for one momentous glance). By harnessing the skills of her technical team, Diop turns "Saint Omer" into a shrewd, cogent, ambitious and overwhelming film which teases a metafictional awareness while remaining clear-eyed and unsentimental."

Best International Screenplay: "In its rich harvest of the detail of agricultural life, 'Alcarràs' conveys remarkable authenticity and empathy. Screenwriters Carla Simón and Arnau Vilaró conjure a family portrait of the complex dynamic within a fracturing clan, including the bittersweet sense of generational change (all the more amazing given that the main cast consists of non-professional actors), while also making a political argument that connects the dots of the many intricacies of an economic system that seems rigged against the best efforts of these hard-working people."

Best Actress in an International Film: "With a strong sense of pacing and spatial movement, in the frequently occurring long takes with ever-so-slow and meticulously subtle camerawork, we award the Best Actress Prize to Oksana Cherkashyna in "Klondike" for her performance as Irka, a pregnant woman. When the increasing pressures of the surrounding chaos in Eastern Ukraine in 2014 reach her doorstep, Cherkashyna’s portrayal weaves both the physical and psychological, encompassing everything from palpable inner-fears (in the shape of domesticity) to literally giving birth next to a machine gun."

Best Actor in an International Film: "We award the Best Actor Prize to Ali Junejo in 'Joyland' for his intimate, thoughtful and nuanced performance as Haider, a man grappling with his diverging sense of self and familial responsibility. Junejo emerges as the film’s most flexible and dependable performance owing to his generosity and earnestness with each cast member, both in behavioral and linguistic choices. His ability to convey the ambivalent paradoxes of Haider, while delivering a performance of such searing clarity and empathy recalibrates the vivid textures of Joyland away from the social realism of its larger goals, turning it into an evocative character study in a performance of quiet complexity."

BEST DOCUMENTARY AWARD

The Documentary Award is presented to the director for the most compelling nonfiction filmmaking from among those selected to screen at the festival.

Best Documentary Award: "To Kill a Tiger" (Canada), Director Nisha Pahuja

Best Documentary Award Special Mention: "Butterfly in the Sky" (USA), Director Bradford Thomason, Brett Whitcomb

Jury Statement: "Because of its powerful story, rich cinematic approach and its commitment to the community, the jury has decided to award 'To Kill a Tiger.' The filmmakers sensitivity to the subjects' experience and their poignant capture of shifting tones is a superb use of the genre, resulting in a remarkable story profiling an enduring father-daughter bond exemplifying a social evolution."

The films were juried by Diana Cadavid (Director of the LALIFF and the FICCALI), Amir George (Filmmaker, Black Radical Imagination) and Robin Robinson (Film Festival Programmer).

NEW VOICES NEW VISIONS AWARD

The New Voices New Visions Award focuses on films that the festival programming team felt represent the most distinctive new directors who have emerged in the last year.

New Voices New Visions Award: "The Damned Don’t Cry" (France/Belgium/Morocco), Director Fyzal Boulifa

New Voices New Visions Special Mention: "Our Father, the Devil" (USA), Director Ellie Foumbi

Jury Statement: "This film begins with protagonists that are not necessarily sympathetic on a surface level but who we come to at least understand and respect by the end, and not because they’ve changed, but because our perception of them has changed. Instead, we as an audience have been forced to grow and expand our own vision. For these reasons, the jury awards the New Voices New Visions Award to The Damned Don’t Cry by Fyzal Boulifa."

The films were juried by Lauren Wissot (Film Critic, Filmmaker Magazine and IDA), Violet Lucca (Film Critic, Harper's Magazine) and Monica Trasandes (Director of Programming, GLAAD).

IBERO-AMERICAN AWARD

The Ibero-American Award is presented to the best film from Latin America, Spain or Portugal selected to screen at the festival. The award aims to highlight the creativity seen in modern Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American films.

Ibero-American Award: "Chile '76" (Chile/USA), Director Manuela Martelli

Ibero-American Special Mention: "Blanquita" (Chile), Director Fernando Guzzoni

Jury Statement: "For capturing the revolution against Pinochet not at the front lines but instead inside the unlikely gilded cage of a privileged woman’s awakening, for showing how the personal is political, with clever cinematic imagery, we award 'Chile ‘76.'"

The films were judged by Manuel Betancourt (Author, "The Cardboard Kingdom"), Rebecca Sun (Senior Editor of Diversity and Inclusion, The Hollywood Reporter), and Trey Shields (Senior Programmer at the Philadelphia Film Festival/Society),

LOCAL JURY AWARD

The Local Jury Award is presented to the film, which promotes understanding and acceptance between people.

Local Jury Award: "Liquor Store Dreams" (USA), Director So Yun Um

Local Jury Special Mention: "Mama Bears" (USA), Director Daresha Kyi

Jury Statement: "The local jury award is presented to a film that encompasses a spirit of community and neighborliness. We believe that this was best exemplified by the transparent depiction of the complexities and beauty of living and thriving within a historically multicultural community confronting daily social injustices as shown in 'Liquor Store Dreams' by So Yun Um."

The films were judged by Michelle Webb (Registered Nurse), Tim Vincent (California Prevention Training Center - Senior Consultant), Randy Florence (PD Area Chamber of Commerce, President & CEO), Barbara Sisto (Retired Educator) and Emily Alvarez-Zurita (CSUSB Student).

YOUNG CINEASTES AWARD

The Young Cineastes jury is composed of local students who not only have shown talent and aspirations for making films but a sincere passion for watching and learning more about cinema and life at every moment possible.

Young Cineastes Award: "Riceboy Sleeps" (Canada), Director Anthony Shim

The films were judged by Indi Chacon, Danica Palmersheim, Eli Salazar, and Kaitlyn Thompson.

THE MOZAIK BRIDGING THE BORDERS AWARD

At a time when physical, religious, racial, cultural and economic borders divide the population of our planet, efforts to bridge those borders should be appreciated. In that spirit, Cinema Without Borders presents the MOZAIK Bridging the Borders Award to a film that is most successful in bridging and connecting the people of our world closer together. The winner of the 2023 MOZAIK Bridging the Borders Award presented by Cinema Without Borders and sponsored by MOZAIK Philanthropy will receive a cash award of $2,500.

MOZAIK Bridging the Borders Award: "Dirty Difficult Dangerous" (France/Italy/Lebanon/Saudi Arabia/Qatar), Director Wissam Charaf

MOZAIK Bridging the Borders Special Mentions: "The Happiest Man in the World" (North Macedonia), Director Teona Strugar Mitevska

The films were juried by Bijan Tehrani (Writer, Director, Founder & Editor in Chief of Cinema Without Borders), Keely Badger (Executive Director of MOZAIK), Vladek Juszkiewicz (Film Producer, Founder, Director Emeritus of the Polish Film Festival Los Angeles), Marcy Garriott (Independent Documentary Filmmaker), Granaz Moussavi (Iranian/Australian Poet, Writer & Filmmaker), Bambadjan Bamba (Actor, Filmmaker, Immigrant Rights Advocate).

At this time, Palm Springs ShortFest is scheduled to return June 20-26.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: 2023 Palm Springs International Film Festival announces award winners