Nothing to reproach the decision of the BCN Film Fest jury. The moving Finnish historical drama The Fate of Maya has won the award for best film. The court, made up of Eduard Fernández, Clara Segura and Carles Sanz, has awarded the award for best direction to Pau Teixidor for Alumbramiento, a drama about motherhood set in Spain in the 1980s whose cast, made up of the young actresses Sofía Milan, Celia Lopera, Carmen Escudero, Paula Agulló, Victoria Oliver and Alba Munuera, has won the award for best female performance collectively.
And for best actor, a classic actor, Michael Caine, who at 91 years old is still in top form and demonstrates this in The Great Escape, where he plays a World War II veteran who flees from the residence where he is. interned to meet with his fellow soldiers and celebrate the 70th anniversary of the landing in Normandy.
Luàna Bajrami, who writes and directs, Phantom Youth, a film about the lost youth in Kosovo during the independence process, has also made a place for herself in the honors. Bajrami won the award for best script for this film that was screened at the last edition of the Venice Film Festival. Raymond Enoksen has won the award for best music for the soundtrack of Hammarskjöld. Fight for Peace, a biopic of the Swedish diplomat Dag Hammarskjöld who began the decolonization process from the UN General Secretariat in the late 1950s.
Finally, the critic's prize, awarded by Maria Jacarilla, Esteve Plantada and Xavier Daniel, went to the French director Quentin Dupieux for Daaaaaali!, a film as surreal as the work of the painter from Empordà.
Maya's fate has been one of the surprises of the BCN Film Fest. Based on five novels by Anni Bloqvist, it tells the life of Maya, a girl who at the beginning of the 19th century marries by family mandate a young man whom she does not know. The couple settles on a desert island between the coasts of Finland, Sweden and Russia because her husband is dedicated to fishing. Despite its long duration, around three hours, Maya's Fate does not exhaust the viewer who may be fascinated by the color, the interpretations and the exoticism that shine in the film.
Director Tiina Lymi directs this drama in which Maya, played by Amanda Jansson, becomes an everyday heroine. The girl comes to love her unexpected and initially unwanted husband and she and him form a family that goes through a few historical and economic vicissitudes from their island retreat. Maya faces the invasion of English troops or the launch of a new business and also personal dramas such as the loss of one of her children.
Alumbramiento, the other big winner of the night, tells the story of Lucía, who is 16 years old and has become pregnant. She does not know how much she is in trouble, but the shame that she causes in the family - after being beaten by her boyfriend and her father - forces her mother to accompany her from the town to Madrid to admit her to Peñagrande. a reformatory for pregnant teenagers. There, Lucia is received by a nun who will assure her that she is in the house of God and that all actions have consequences for her. She will not be alone, since at the center she will meet and make friends with other girls in the same situation as her. Alumbramiento, a drama set in Spain in 1982, is Teixidor's second feature film, which premiered at the BCN Film Fest ten years after Purgatorio.
A total of 13 films have competed in the official section of this eighth edition of the BCN Film Fest. The event, which was held at the Verdi cinemas, screened 69 titles including a retrospective cycle dedicated to the Japanese director Yasujirō Ozu. The Barcelona film festival directed by Conxita Casanovas has attracted 20,000 spectators in its nine days, 10% more than last year, according to the organization. The ninth edition of the BCN Film Fest will be held between April 23 and 30, 2025.
