Vera EGITOS The battle (010010 Unlike previous editions, however, the top winner received its world premiere at the festival and had not already enjoyed successful runs in international festivals like Cannes, Venice or Toronto.The film’s title refers to Rua Maria Antonia, a street in the centre of Brazilian city Sao Paulo which was the stage for a famous confrontation between left- wing and right-wing university students in October 1968 during Brazil’s military dictatorship.On the night it screened, The Battle
won over audiences and critics alike by recreating in 21 sequences the tension and violence experienced by teachers and students on that fateful day. The film captures students’ passion as they clashed with sticks, tables, chairs and homemade bombs. As the festival takes place in October, previous Premiere Brasil winners often arrive with the endorsement of international festivals, as was the case with Marcelo Gomes’
Paloma
and Anita Rocha da Silveira’s Medusa, winners in 2022 and 2021 respectively.
Paloma screened for the first time in Munich while Medusa premiered in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.Andre Novais Oliveira’s O Dia que te Conheci, the special jury prize winner, is another Brazilian film starting its journey in Rio this year. The film is about a librarian working in a nearby city, where he’ll get another chance at love.
Power Alley, winner of the best director (Lillah Halla) and best editing awards in Rio, received the Cannes Critics’ Week Fipresci prize in May.Toll by Carolina Markowicz was presented in San Sebastian and Toronto before winning four awards at Premiere Brasil: best actress (Maeve Jinkins), best actor (Kaua Alvarenga), best supporting actress (Aline Marta Maia) and best art direction (Vicente Saldanha).The recipient of the best cinematography prize in Rio, Heartless
directed by Nara Normande and Tiao, premiered in Venice’s Horizons section.Usually, Rio is an ideal platform to present local films to Brazilian audiences. The festival exposure often helps victorious films achieve a larger domestic release and winning titles without distribution usually get acquired.The full list of Rio film festival winners:Best fiction feature
The Battle (Vera Egito)Special jury prize
O Dia que te Conheci (Andre Novais de Oliveira)Best director, fiction
Lillah Halla (Power Alley
)Best actressMaeve Jinkins (
Toll
) and Grace Passo (
O Dia que te Conheci
)Best actor
Kaua Alvarenga (
Toll)
Best supporting actress
Aline Marta Maia (Toll)
Best supporting actor
Carlos Francisco (Estranho Caminho)Best cinematographyEvgenia Alexandrova (
Heartless
)Best editingEva Randolph (
Power Alley
)Best screenplayGuto Parente (
Estranho Caminho
)Best art directionVicente Saldanha (
Toll
)Best documentaryOthelo, o Grande
(Lucas H. Rossi dos Santos)
Best Director, documentaryDaniel Goncalves (Assexybilidade
)
Honorable Mention, documentaryBlack Rio! Black Power! (Emilio Domingos)
Best Short
Cabana (Adriana de Faria).‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour’ breaks North American, global concert film box office records
