RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil has won the 19th edition of the IndieLisboa independent film festival, one of the most important in Portugal, taking the awards for best international feature film, the jury’s special, and best national feature film.
The Portuguese-Brazilian production “Mato Seco en Chamas”, by Adirley Queirós and Joana Pimenta, was crowned winner of the best feature film in both the international and national categories.
The organization announced it in a press release, where it defended that “the magnetic atmosphere throughout the film transforms it into a true epic of the 21st century”.
The film tells how, in Ceilândia, on the outskirts of Brasilia, a group of women take oil from the city’s pipelines and transform it into gasoline, which they sell to local motorcycle couriers.
The Special Jury Prize went to the Brazilian “Medusa” by Anita Rocha da Silveira. The feature film “The Great Movement” by Kiro Russo, a production of Bolivia, France, Switzerland, and Qatar, won the Special Mention.
The “City of Lisbon” award grants €15,000 (US$15,800) in the international section, while the Jury’s prize allows the acquisition of the film’s rights for Portugal.
In the international short film section, the Portuguese “Mistida” by Facão Nhaga, and the Italian “The Parent’s Room” by Diego Marcon, shared the award.
In this edition, which took place in the Portuguese capital from April 28 to May 8, more than 250 films were screened.
With information from EFE