'UNBRANDED' WINS THE GOLDEN EGUZKILORE OF THE BILBAO MENDI FILM FESTIVAL 2015
After nine days deliberating, the Jury has decided that ‘Unbranded’ should be the winner of the 8th edition of Bilbao Mendi Film Festival, due to its impressive shooting, its unpredictable and captivating script and its breathtaking direction
‘Urzulo’ has been the Best Film in Basque, ‘High and mighty’ the Best Short Film, ‘Sunakali’ has won the Best Culture and Nature Film award, ‘Jurek’ has been awarded with Best Mountaineering Film, Eliza Kubarska as Best Director, ‘A line across the sky’ has won the Best Climbing Film award, ‘Reach your limits’ has won the Best Sport and Adventure Film, ‘Snowman’ has been awarded with Best Script, ‘Meru’ with Best Cinematography and ‘Suspentes et cordes de violon au Pakistan’ has obtained the Jury Prize
Bilbao Mendi Film Festival 2015 comes to an end with the most eagerly awaited moment. After screening 43 films of the official section throughout nine days, the jury –made up by Lara Izagirre, Pablo Iraburu, Adam Howard, Michael Pause and Wokciech Fusek− has decided to award ‘Unbranded’ with the ‘Golden Eguzkilore’ of the Bilbao Mendi Film Festival. Phillip Baribeau’s film has won the 6,000 Euros awarded together with the Grand Prize due to its impressive cinematography, its unpredictable and captivating script and its breathtaking direction.
The prize for the Best Director has been awarded to Eliza Kubarska, as hers is a very different film. The rhythm, the way the story is told, the shooting and the direction are magnificent and smart. The director makes the audience feel emotions that are rarely seen in mountaineering films. ‘We have appreciated that different point of view,’ said the jury.
As it was expected, ‘Meru’ –the film that sold out all tickets both at the opening in the Euskalduna Palace and at the Golem-Alhóndiga cinemas, having a total of 740 people attending− hasn’t left empty-handed. In the end, it has finally been awarded with ‘Best Cinematography.’
The Best Script award has been for ‘Snowman,’ as it tells his childhood best friend’s and his own objective viewpoint in a very natural and non typical way.
Best Short Film has been awarded to ‘High and Mighty,’ as it spreads in a very dangerous way the difficult climbing. The film shows it in a fast and constant way and tells the story on a very innovative rock scenario.
The Best Film in Basque award has been for the young Xanti Ugarte for his work ‘Urzulo.’ According to the Jury, it’s been the winner due to ‘its stark and powerful script, for the difficult work of shooting in dark places, and for the spirit of willing to know unexplored places in the Basque Country.’
The Jury Prize has been awarded to ‘Suspentes et cordes de violon au Pakistan,’ as it captures the spirit of the mountains and makes it possible to travel by himself with just a camera, a violin and a paraglide. It creates that way a very difficult story, but honest and fun at the same time.
The Best Mountaineering Film has been for ‘Jurek,’ as it creates a fair tribute for one of the most important and unknown alpinists in the history of Polish alpinism, Jurek Kukuczka.
The Best Climbing Film has been awarded to ‘A line across the sky,’ due to its ability to tell in 17 minutes one of the most important activities of the last decade, with two of the best current climbers.
‘Reach your limits’ has obtained the Best Sport and Adventure Film, as it keeps the emotion from the beginning to the end and it doesn’t show only the sport aspect. It also looks in depth in the hero figure. The film gets to make the audience connect with the pain and suffering of Kiril Nikolov and those around him.
To finish, ‘Sunakali’ has been awarded with Best Culture and Nature Film due to the importance of its story, where the Nepalese girls follow their dream, a dream of playing football in a very complicated atmosphere.
The Jury has been made up by the Basque filmmakers Pablo Iraburu and Lara Izagirre, the editor-in-chief of the Polish newspaper ‘Gazeta Wyborcza’ Wojciech Fusek, the journalist, producer and writer Michael Pause and the Editorial Director of the specialized publications ‘Alpinist’ and ‘Backcountry,’ Adam Howard.
On Sunday, the non-stop sessions that include the awarded films will be screened in Sala BBK (Gran Vía 19-21, Bilbao). At 12.00am ‘A line across the sky’ and ‘Jurek,’ at 3.00pm ‘Urzulo’ and ‘K2 touching the sky,’ at 5.15pm ‘Unbranded’ and at 7.30pm ‘High and mighty ‘ and ‘Meru.’
