ALL THE LOVERS – OTTAVIO MAI AWARD FOR THE BEST FEATURE FILM
Jury’s president: Lorenzo Balducci
Un altre home / Another Man by David Moragas
For its ability to represent a queer reality free from stereotypes, built around realistic and skillfully portrayed characters, and, thanks to its solid, multi-layered narrative structure, for its originality in weaving dramatic elements into a perfectly balanced comedy punctuated by an extremely convincing sense of dark humor.
REAL LOVERS – BEST DOCUMENTARY AWARD
Jury’s president: Vincenzo Patanè
Barbara Forever by Brydie O’Connor
Barbara Forever, directed by Brydie O’Connor, explores the complexity of the work and life of one of the most important experimental filmmakers in lesbian and feminist cinema, selecting and highlighting images from a filmography that remains largely overlooked even today. The viewer is guided by Hammer’s own voiceover on a journey to the realization of one’s identity can only be expressed in an equally radical style. The documentary effectively portrays a woman who made cinema her reason for love and life.
SPECIAL MENTION
La face cachée de la terre/The Hidden Face of the Earth by Arnaud Alain
For its originality, for its style that blends seamlessly with the narrative, and above all, for the questions it raises about our perception of reality – entrusting photography – and therefore cinema – with a deeper understanding, capable of getting to the very heart of things, just as the protagonist is gradually losing his sight.
FUTURE LOVERS – BEST SHORT FILM AWARD
Jury’s president: Josephine Yole Signorelli in arte Fumettibrutti
Sunday Lunch by Lyndon Henley Hanrahan
A dramedy in which the visual style and narrative elements work together effectively and poignantly. The actors’ skillful performances capture with precision the themes of today’s world and everyday life, which we as a jury wish to highlight in order to raise a new level of awareness.
MENZIONE SPECIALE
Two Black Boys in Paradise by Baz Sells
The animation is incredible and the characters are vivid, recognizable and fully realized. This short film portrays love in a direct, unfiltered way. It’s also a very socially conscious film: two young people flee a society that discriminates against them, but together they seem capable of anything. Because when you truly love someone, any place can become a paradise.
TORINO PRIDE AWARD
Ballata Femmenella by Elettra Raffaela Melucci, Giovanni Battista Origo
Thanks to a voice that is both ancient and contemporary; a voice that is not merely Neapolitan, but universal. Thanks to a generational transition that takes place not only through the language of rights, but also in the symbolic form of myth. And thanks to a political perspective, focused on defending social and civil rights. For all these reasons, we have chosen to award the Torino Pride Award to “Ballata Femmenella”.
GIÒ STAJANO AWARD
Ballata Femmenella by Elettra Raffaela Melucci, Giovanni Battista Origo
In one of Italy’s most inclusive cities, a group of colorful, human, and sensitive people emerges, who always fought to assert their identities as free and spirited beings. They face a world in which they were, and sadly still are, light by night and darkness by day.
The Femminelli embody the free expression of what they have represented for the heart of Naples since ancient times; today even more than yesterday, they are united and determined in fighting to achieve new goals and break down old barriers, for the inclusion we all owe them.
YOUNG LOVERS – LIBERE GABBIE AWARD
Un altre home / Another Man by David Moragas
In recognition of its ability to portray the complexities of contemporary relationships with a tenderness free from stereotypes, the Young Lovers jury has awarded the Libere Gabbie award to David Morgas’s film Un Altre Home.
MATTHEW SHEPARD – IL GROVIGLIO AWARD
La più piccola / La Petite Dernière by Hafsia Herzi
For its effective representation of the suffering and internal conflict resulting from the search for a balance between one’s sexual identity and the cultural and religious models of the society they belong to; for the ability to critically examine the limits and responsibilities of the social and cultural environment in which this balance is painstakingly sought; for the film’s ability to stimulate reflections and emotions, raising hope for change towards more inclusive cultural patterns, focused on understanding similarities rather than differences.
RIFLESSI NEL BUIO
Between Dreams and Hope di Farnoosh Samadi
Because the oppression we thought existed only beyond our borders is spreading in an increasingly worrying way right here in our midst; because it remains essential to keep focusing on those, both within and outside Europe, who continue to deny the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community. So that we never take anything for granted.
ADORATION AWARDS
Sensualità a Corte di Marcello Cesena
AUDIENCE AWARDS
All the Lovers
On the Sea di Helen Walsh
Real Lovers
Ballata Femmenella di Elettra Raffaela Melucci, Giovanni Battista Origo
Future Lovers
Two Black Boys in Paradise di Baz Sells
