The film The Vanished Dream, by Juan S. Betancor, wins the Richard Leacock Award for Best Feature Film in the 17th International Film Festival

• The Canaria Cinema jury has granted to Burning Mountains that Spew Flame, by Samuel M. Delgado and Helena Girón, the Richard Leacock Award for Best Short Film
• The feature film Julie, by Alba González de Molina, and the short film Sub Terrae, by Nayra Sanz, win the distribution awards Canary Islands Connection and Digital 104 Film Distribution, respectively

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Monday, April 3, 2017. The film The Vanished Dream, by director José Betancor, has won the Richard Leacock Award for Best Feature Film of the 17th Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival. The jury in charge of judging the works submitted to the Canarias Cinema competitive section, formed by Javier H. Estrada, critic in Caimán. Cuadernos de cine, teacher and film programmer; journalist and publicist Marina Lanza, specialized in Culture; and Joan Sala, editor in Filmin and programmer of the Atlántida Film Fest, has made public their decision this afternoon, Monday, April 3, during the press conference held at the Pérez Galdós Theater.

The jury has highlighted about the award granted to The Vanished Dream, worth 3000 euros, “the soundness of its historical narrative, the revindication of an active and genuine idealism that today seems gone, delving into an issue of great importance in the present”. “A documentary film”, continues the jury in their reasoning, “that places value on the importance of unfinished projects”.

The Richard Leacock Award for Best Short Film has been granted to Burning Mountains that Spew Flame, by Samuel M. Delgado and Helena Girón, a work selected by the jury “because of its formal audacity, its masterful experimentation with film material and its suggestive incursion in the bowels of the earth”. This category’s award is worth 1500 euros.

Digital 104 Film Distribution and Canary Islands Connection Awards

Apart from the awards granted by the official jury of Canarias Cinema, the participant titles compete for two distribution prizes: the short films, for the Digital 104 Film Distribution Award, granted by the Canarian production company Digital 104 Film Distribution; the feature films, for the Canary Islands Connection International Distribution Award.

The jury of the Canary Islands Connection International Distribution Award, made up of José Ángel Alayón and Luis Renart, in an initiative of the Canary Islands Audiovisual Export Consortium, has granted their award to the feature film Julie, by Alba González de Molina because of “being able to design with extraordinary sensitivity the inner journey of a feminine character that will remain in the collective imaginary of our cinema”. The award will give the winner the option of signing a contract for international distribution in the main international markets (European Film Market, Marché du Film, etc.) within the Canary Islands Connection’s catalogue, for a year and in accordance with the market’s general conditions.

The jury of the Digital 104 Film Distribution Award, made up of Jonay García, Domingo J. González and Jairo López, members of Digital 104 Film Distribution, has granted its award for best short film to the one submitted by Nayra Sanz, Sub Terrae (Spain, 2017), because of “its ability to overcome the mere capture of an unusual picture and build a fascinating audiovisual artefact that innovates the horror iconography”. The short film will have an international distribution strategy for a year, designed by the company Digital 104 Film Distribution.

Five feature films and twelve short films in competition

Five feature films have competed for the Richard Leacock Award of the 17th Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival: The Vanished Dream (José Betancor, Spain, 2016, 77 min), Maresía (Dani Millán, Spain, 2016, 96 min.), La forma del mundo (David San Ginés, Spain, 2017, 123 min.), Fogueo (David Sainz, Spain, 2016, 110 min.) and Julie (Alba González de Molina, Spain, 2016, 105 min.)

In the short film category there were twelve titles: Concoct or Wander (Lila Organa, Spain, 2016, 6 min.), The Landing (David Pantaleón, Spain, 2016, 4 min.), Icelands (Miguel Ángel Mejías, Spain, 2016, 12 min.), The Campaign (Macu Machín, Spain, 2017, 8 min.), Burning Mountains that Spew Flame (S. Delgado, H. Girón, Spain, 2017, 14 min.), Shipwrecked (Iván López, Spain, 2016, 7 min.), Osito (Coré Ruiz, Spain, 2017, 18 min.), Paraíso por descubrir (Amaury Santana, Spain, 2016, 1.30’), Popoff (Domingo de Luis, Spain, 2017, 20 min.), Black Well (Miguel G. Morales, Spain, 2017, 5 min.), Sub Terrae (Nayra Sanz, Spain, 2017, 7 min.) and Toreros (Nacho Bello, Spain, 2016, 12 min.).