Susanna Mirghani’s Sudanese drama “Cotton Queen” won the top prize at the Thessaloniki Film Festival on Sunday, taking home the Golden Alexander for best feature film.
Mirghani’s shocking debut, the first feature film directed by a Sudanese female director, was directed by Match Factory sales executive T Hania Dimitrakopoulou and American cinematographer Frédéric Hermes (who directed Blue Berber). “The Cotton Queen” “surprised us all,” he said, “surprising all of us.”
“All of us on the jury were with us from start to finish on this movie,” Bratton said. “We live in a world ravaged by genocide and war, but it’s important to remember what we’re all fighting for: our families, ourselves, our friends, and our communities. This film…focused us on what matters most.”
“Cotton Queen” follows a young Sudanese woman living in a village on the banks of the Nile. Nafisa, the granddaughter of the so-called “Queen of Cotton” who became legendary for her resistance to the British and her ability to see the future, works in her grandmother’s cotton fields and dreams of the young man she loves.
But the arrival of a wealthy entrepreneur from London turns everything upside down, and Nafisa’s parents, grandmother, and community begin planning her future without her knowledge. The film premiered in the Critics’ Week section at this year’s Venice International Film Festival.
Director Mirghani, who accepted the Golden Alexander Award in Thessaloniki, dedicated the award to Sudan, currently in the midst of a devastating civil war, and to the Sudanese cast and crew who are clinging to survival and “looking for a way out.”
“To make a film with actors who are in Egypt, where everyone has been forced to flee their homes and sought refuge in this time of war and genocide, to show that you can still work, that you can still make films, that you can still make art in this time and have it appreciated, is really welcome news at this time,” she said.
Greek director Aristotelis Maragkos won the Silver Alexander Award for Best Director for his second feature, The Beachcomber. The film tells the story of a young man pursuing the legacy of his sailor father, who is forced to confront the fragile truth of who he really is. The film also won the Artistic Achievement Award for Best Cinematography for DoP Giorgos Calvelas.
Elsewhere in the international competition, Harry Melling won best actor for his role as a mild-mannered traffic warden exploring his submissive side in Harry Righton’s queer romance Pillion, while Sabrina Amari won best actress for her role as an Egyptian archaeologist searching for her past in Nancy Biniadaki’s Maysoon. Meanwhile, the special award for Best Original Screenplay went to Yvonne Gerlach, screenwriter of Kristina Tournatzes’s Carla.
In the festival’s Meet the Neighbors+ competition, which includes debut or second films from 36 countries in Southeastern Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East, the Golden Alexander award went to Francesco Sosai’s boozy drama about two aging drinking buddies, The Last One for the Road, which premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival. The film’s two lead actors, Pierpaolo Capovilla and Sergio Romano, won Best Actor awards.
The Silver Alexander Award for Best Director in the same category went to Yanis Koussim for his horror film “Rokia,” about a young Algerian man who loses his memory after a car accident. Manuela Martelli won the Best Actress Award in the “Meet the Neighbors+” category for her role as a Chilean widow in Hana Jusic’s “God Help Me” and also won the Best Artistic Award.
In the Film Forward Competition, which showcases innovative filmmaking, the Golden Alexander Award went to Mehrnoush Arias’ “1,001 Frames,” the Silver Alexander Award went to Manoël Dupont’s “Before/After,” and stars Jeremy Lambreau and Baptiste Leclerc also received a special award from the jury. The Best Art Award went to Kristen Stewart’s “The Chronology of Water.”
Other major winners at Sunday’s ceremony included first-time directors Stergios Dinopoulos and Krysianna Papadakis’ queer romance film Bearcave (which premiered at the Venice Film Festival’s Venice Days Sidebar and won seven awards in Thessaloniki) and Greek filmmaker Giorgos Georgopoulos’ Patty Is Such a, which won five awards after its world premiere this week. Girly Name” is included.
Thessaloniki Film Festival runs from October 30th to November 9th.
