The São Paulo International Film Festival, known as the Mostra and one of Latin America's leading film events, handed out its prizes on Thursday 29 October at the Teatro Cultura Artística, closing its 50th edition.
In the New Directors competition, a jury made up of Boots Riley, Ali Asgari, Cesar Augusto Acevedo and Laís Bodanzky named "Cinco Anos, Quatro Meses", by Esteban Hoyos García and Juan Miguel Gelacio, best fiction film. The documentary prize went to "O Beija-Flor Pinta Canções Perfumadas" by Matteo Norzi and Èlia Gasull Balada, which audiences also chose. Fernanda Tovar won best director for "Chicas Tristes", which the critics also named best international film. The special jury prize went to Maiken Baird's "Edward Said: Entre Mundos".
Audiences split their Brazilian fiction award between Allan Deberton's "Feito Pipa" and Carlos Saldanha's "100 Dias", and picked Pedro Waddington's "Fernanda" among documentaries. In the international fiction category, they rewarded Ryusuke Hamaguchi's new film. Critics selected Daniel Nolasco's "Pequenas Tragédias" as best Brazilian film.
Several awards come with practical support. For the fourth year running, Netflix acquires a Brazilian film without a streaming deal, this time Thais Fujinaga's "Talismã", while the Paradiso prize backs the cinema release of Ricardo Alves Jr.'s "A Professora de Francês". James Gray, Paulo Branco and S.S. Rajamouli received the Leon Cakoff Prize.
