The American film The Green Fog, by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson, receives the Golden Lady Harimaguada

• The Chinese film Xiao Gua Fu Cheng Xian Ji (The Widowed Witch), by Cai  Chengjie, receives the Silver Lady Harimaguada; its director, the José Rivero Award for Best New Director and its actress,Tian Tian, the Best Actress Award
• The Iranian film No Date, No Signature, by Vahid Jalilvand, wins the Audience Award and Navid Mohammadzadeh, its leading actor, the Best Actor Award
• The co-production Mi amado, las montañas, by Alberto Martín Menacho receives the Best Short Film Award

The 18th Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival’s jury has granted the Golden Lady Harimaguada to the American film The Green Fog (2017, 61 min.), by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson. This 18th edition’s second award, the Silver Lady Harimaguada, has been received by the Chinese film Xiao Gua Fu Cheng Xian Ji (The Widowed Witch) (2018, 120 min.), by Cai Chengjie, who has also won the José Rivero Award for Best New Director, while his leading actress, Tian Tian, has received the Best Actress Award.

Directors Luis Ospina, Radu Jude and Anastasiya Kharchenko and actress Esther Elisha, members of the official jury —Alejandro Díaz Castaño, the directorof the Gijón Festival could not be present—, programmer Garbiñe Ortega, from the short film jury, as well as a popular jury representative, Antonio Valenzuela, have announced the awards this Saturday morning during the press conference held at the Pérez Galdós Theater. A decision that granted the awards among the twelve features and twelve short film that were competing in the official section, which has been supported by Cajamar Foundation once again.

The Pérez Galdós Theater’s Saint Saëns Hall will house today, at 7 pm, the Golden and Silver Lady Harimaguada Awards ceremony —which are titanium made replicas of Martín Chirino’s sculpture created through a 3D printing technique by the LPA Fábrika team—, as well as for the rest of the prizes.

Another of this edition’s winning titles is the Iranian film No Date, No Signature (2017, 104 min.), by Vahid Jalilvand, which has received unanimously the Audience Award; its main actor, Navid Mohanmmadzadeh, has won, too, the Best Actor Award.

Finally, the jury has decided to grant a Special Mention to the film Dita Zë Fill (Daybreak) (Albania, Greece, 2018, 85 min.), by Gentian Koçi.

Best Short Film Award

In the short film category, the award has been granted to Menacho, Mi amado, las montañas (Switzerland, Spain, 2017, 10 min.), by Alberto Martín, because of, according to the jury, “the oddness produced by a coherent and organic mise-en-scène, which approaches death and life in a natural way, because of the mature way in which they portray different vital moments and because we think he is a filmmaker with a particular look we’d like to follow closely”.

In addition, the short film jury, made up of Garbiñe Ortega and directors Adrián Orr and Belén Funes, thought necessary to grant a special mention to Edge of Alchemy (USA, 2017, 19 min.) by director Stacey Steers.

Canarias Cinema

During today’s closing ceremony at the Pérez Galdós Theater’s Saint Saëns Hall, which will be followed by a Dorada Especial tasting, the winners of the Canarias Cinema section, supported by Binter, will also receive their awards, announced last Monday, April 9. This section’s jury, formed by Miguel Rodríguez, founder and editor of Mundo Hispánico; writer and journalist Sabina Urraca and Vanesa Fernández, director of ZINEBI -International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao. The experts granted the Richard Leacock Award for Best Feature Film to El mar nos mira de lejos (Spain, 2017, 93 min.), by director Manuel Muñoz, and the Richard Leacock for Best Short Film to Plus Ultra, by Samuel M. Delgado and Helena Girón, who have won it for the second year in a row.

In addition to the awards granted by the Canarias Cinema section official jury, last Monday two distribution awards were announced as well: the Digital 104 Distribution Award, granted by the Canarian audiovisual production company Digital 104 Film Distribution, granted to Dua2litet (Spain, 2018, 4 min.),by Rafa Marrero; and the Canary Islands Connection Award, granted to Apocalipsis Voodoo (Vasni Romero, Spain, 2018, 94 min.).

AWARDS

Golden Lady Harimaguada

The Green Fog (Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson, USA, 2017, 61 min.)

Silver Lady Harimaguada

Xiao Gua fu Cheng Xian Ji (The Widowed Witch) (Cai Chengjie, China, 2018, 120 min.)

José Rivero Award for Best New Director

Cai Chengjie for Xiao Gua fu Cheng Xian Ji (The Widowed Witch) (China, 2018, 120 min.)

Best Actress Award

Tian Tian, for Xiao Gua fu Cheng Xian Ji (The Widowed Witch) (Cai Chengjie, China, 2018, 120 min.)

Best Actor Award

Navid Mohammadzadeh, for Bedoone Tarikh, Bedoone Emza (No Date, No Signature) (Vahid Jalilvand, Iran, 2017, 104 min.)

Jury Special Mention

Dita Zë Fill (Daybreak) (Gentian Koçi, Albania, Greece, 2018, 85 min.)

Best Short Film Award

Mi Amado, las Montañas (My Beloved, The Mountains) (Alberto Martín Menacho, Switzerland, Spain, 2017, 24 min.)

Short Film Special Mention

Edge of Alchemy (Stacey Steers, USA, 2017, 19 min.)

CANARIAS CINEMA

Richard Leacock Award for Best Feature Film

El mar nos mira de lejos (Manuel Muñoz, Spain, 2017, 93 min.)

Richard Leacock Award for Best Short Film

Plus Ultra (Samuel Delgado, Helena Girón, Spain, 2017, 13 min.)

Canary Islands Connection International Distribution Award

Apocalipsis Voodoo (Apocalypse Voodoo) (Vasni Ramos, Spain, 2018, 94 min.)

Digital 104 International Distribution Award

Dua2litet (Rafael Marrero Acosta, Spain, 4 min.)