Valladolid: ‘The Permanent Picture,’ ‘The Old Oak’ Win Big as the Spanish Festival’s Reboot Wins Applause

Two movies which come in on immigration from vastly different angles Laura Ferrs The Permanent Picture and Ken Loachs The Old Oak won big Saturday night at Spains Valladolid Festival, walking off with its main competition Golden Spike and the Spanish events best actor (Dave Turner) and Audience Award plaudits respectively.

The prize ceremony also saw Charlotte Rampling, star of closing film Juniper from Matthew J. Saville, accept an enthusiastically applauded Honorific Spike for her career achievement.

Though decided upon by independent juries, Valladolids prizes say much about the new-fit festival after a first-year reboot by new director Jos Luis Cienfuegos, previously a Gijn and Seville fest head.

Under directors Fernando Lara (1984-2004), Juan Carlos Frugone (2005-08) and Javier Angulo (2009-2022), Valladolid has consolidated as one of Spains biggest festivals, after San Sebastin. and a bastion of auteurist, arthouse independent cinema. Few figures in Europe embody this more than Ken Loach who explained when in Valladolid with screenwriter Paul Laverty that The Old Oak explored the seeds of racism.

Paul Laverty Ken Loach Courtesy of Seminci At the same time, Cienfuegos toldVariety, Valladolid is a city absolutely dedicated to the festival that demands and needs to open the doors to a new generation of filmmakers.

A Cannes Critics Week winner for her short, The Disinherited, Ferrs forms part of Barcelonas vibrant and often women-led new generation filmmaking scene, with The Permanent Picture, her first feature, weighing in as a blend of distinctive storytelling, dry humor, captivating cinematography and resonant narrative,Varietyhas reported. It also traces a journey through the lives of migrants who moved from Andalusia to Catalonia, while striking a novel balance between naturalism and artifice.

We need young cineasts who are bold and valiant when they express themselves, said jury member Pan Nalin (Last Film Show), giving Ferrs her prize.

The Permanent Picture Courtesy of Seminci Beyond Loach, other established auteurs snagged top plaudits at Valladolid, such as Italys Alice Rohrwacher a Silver Spike winner for La Chimera, Germanys Angela Schanelec, who took direction and cinematography (Ivan Markovi) for Music. Marco Bellocchio shared screenplay for Kidnapped, and Denmarks Lone Scherfig, notably, scooped the Young Seminci Prize for opening film The Movie Teller.

Valladolids 2023 kudos spread also recognized, however, a slew of high profile new directors, led by Brit Molly Manning Walkerwith Cannes Un Certain Regard victor How to Have Sex, a Pilar Mir best new direction awardee; and U.S. indie doc icons Bill and Turner Ross, whose first fiction outing, Gasoline Alley, topped the fests Meeting Point, reserved for first and second-time feature directors.

Other new talent nabbing awards were Greeces Sofia Exarchou (Animal, a special mention in Meeting Point), and Spaniards Marta Lallana (Muyeres, which took the Green Spike award), and first feature director Victor Iriarte (Foremost by Night, a Fipresci laureate), as well as Brazils Vera Egito (The Battle), the emerging screenwriter-turned-director.

Elites Omar Ayuso-starrer On the Go, by first-timers Maria Gisle Royo and Julia de Castro, won a mention in the Rainbow Spike competition.

Cienfuegos other declared objectives a larger industry heft and international edge were achieved from the get go by hosting Spains 3rd Independent Film Market (MERCI) and an Europa Cinemas Innovation and Audience Development Laboratory.

Muyeres Courtesy of Seminci Targeting Spains cinema chain and acquisition execs from broadcasters and streamers who sampled upcoming films, presentations and round tables, MERCI fairly hummed, attended by the countrys top exhibition honchos and valued by distributors as a highly useful event.

As exhibitors need ever more media profile for their titles, just as coverage of movies declines in Spanish outlets, a round table, Strategies of Communication and Marketing to Attract New Audiences, debated how to reach the public, especially younger patrons.

Think out of the box, ad hoc campaigns. Fortunately, there are no formulas. If a campaign goes really well and you try to repeat it, it wont function a second time round. Be bold, make mistakes, and you have to dedicate enough budget, said Joan Pons, communication director at concert promotor Primavera Sound.

Directors such as Jons Trueba who tour with their films around Spain also won praise. Also, talent has to be more generous and understand, like Paco Lon or Los Javis, that promotion is part of making a film or series, said journalist-podcaster Mara Guerra.

The 2023 Valladolid MERCI Prize was won by veteran producer-distributor-exhibitor Enrique Gonzlez Macho, whose upscale Cines Renoir chain helped change the face and comfort of Spains arthouse scene.

Theyve always asked me which I liked most: Production, distribution, exhibition? I always answered distribution, and I feel it profoundly, Gonzlez Macho reflected. Nobody understands, but its distributors who fundamentally decide if a film exists or not, in the sense of being seen, and you always work with prototypes. You never distribute two films which are the same, he added.

Charlotte Rampling Courtesy of Seminci 68th Valladolid International Film Festival Prizes:

Main Competition

Golden Spike

La imatge permanenet, (The Permanent Picture, Laura Ferrs, Spain)

Silver Spike

La chimera, (Alice Rohrwacher, Italy France, Swisszerland)

La Chimera Courtesy of Seminci Fipresci Award

Sobre todo de noche, (Foremost By Night, Vctor Iriarte, Spain)

Ribera del Duero Best Director Award

Angela Schanelec, (Music, Germany, France, Serbia)

Pilar Miro Best New Director Award

Molly Manning Walker, (How to Have Sex, U.K., Greece, Belgium)

Best Actor Award

Dave Turner, (The Old Oak, U.K., France, Belgium, Bulgaria)

Best Actress Award

La Seydoux, (The Beast, France, Canada)

Miguel Delibes Best Screenplay Award

Marco Bellocchio, Susanna Nicchiarelli (Kidnapped, Italy, France, Germany)

Best Cinematography

Ivan Markovi, (Music, Germany, France, Serbia)

Jos Salcedo Editing Award

Gesa Jger, (The Teachers Lounge, South Korea)

Golden Spike Best Short Film,

Wander to Wonder, (Nina Gantz, Netherlands, Belgium, France, U.K.)

EFA Short Film Nominee Valladolid 2024

Ardent Other, (Marina Alberti, Spain)

Silver Spike Best Short Film

Aitana, (Joo Gonzalez, Portugal)

Honorific Spike

Charlotte Rampling

Audience Award

The Old Oak, (Ken Loach, U.K., France, Belgium)

The Old Oak Courtesy of Seminci Youth Jury Award

How to Have Sex, (Molly Manning Walker, U.K., Greece, Belgium)

Encounter Point

Feature Film

Gasoline Rainbow, (Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross, U.S.)

Special Jury Award

Arthur Diana, (Sara Summa, Germany)

Special Mention

Animal, (Sofia Exarchou, Greece, Austria, Romania)

Audience Award

Muyeres, (Marta Lallana, Spain)

Foreign Short film

Nocturnal Burger, (Reema Maya India , USA)

Special Mention

Heartbreak Hotel, (Emma Axelroud Bernard, Toujours Panthre, France)

Spain Short Film Night Award

Meteoro, (Vctor Moreno, Spain)

Special Mention

Trenc DAlba, (Crack of Dawn, Anna Llargus, Spain)

Youth Jury Award

One Last Evening, (Lukas Nathrath, Germany)

History Time

First Prize

Between Revolutions, (Vlad Petri, Romania, Croatia, Catar, Irn)

Between Revolutions Courtesy of Seminci Second Prize

Pictures of Ghosts, (Kleber Mendona Filho, Brazil)

Best Short Film Award

Ours, (Morgane Frund, Switzerland)

Audience Award

The Mother of All Lies, (Asmae El Moudir, Morocco, UAE, Catar, Egypt)

Youth Jury Award Special Mention

Hello Dankness, (Sodda Jerk, Australia)

Alquimias

Recoletas Award Best Film

Femme (Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping, U.K.)

Doc Spain Award

Zinzindurrunkarratz, (Oskar Alegria, Spain)

Castilla y Len Short Film Award

El Rey de la Semana, (David Prez Saudo, Spain)

Green Spike Award

Muyeres, (Marta Lallana, Spain)

Fundos Award

A Batalha da Rua Maria Antnia, (Vera Egito, Brazil)

Youth Seminci Award

La Contadora de Pelculas, (The Movie Teller, Lone Scherfig, Spain, France, Chile)

Rainbow Spike Award

All of Us Strangers, (Andrew Haigh, U.K.-U.S.)

Rainbow Spike Award Special Mention

On The Go, (Mara Gisle Royo, Julia de Castro, Spain)

On The Go Courtesy of Seminci