5th Queer Palm Award Winner

Last night at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs closing party the Queer Palm had their award ceremony and since the location was announced by organizers we suspected that the winning film will come from the sidebar and will be the closing film. We were right. The award went to Pride and in my opinion the jury chose a great and the right film for the award. Great!

But is not until today that we get the award president statement and is the best I have seen in the short history of this award. Take a look at the great statement.

“In awarding the Queer Palm our jury had had a lively debate involving a number of questions essential to cinema : art versus politics ; queer representation versus a more indirect or ambiguous expression of alternative sexualism ; the assertion of a new queer sensibility versus the representation or interpretation of existing historical character or event.

Altought we did not award them the Queer Palm, two films in particular stood out for their queer spirit with regard to their assertion of female empowerment and their resistance to social and sexual conventions and male dominated institutions. These films are PARTY GIRL by Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger et Samuel Theis (Un Certain Regard) and GIRLHOOD by Céline Sciamma (Director’s Fortnight).

Ultimately, the film we chose – which is based on a specific historical event, seems to us a particularly relevant and important story to tell considering the current climate of intolerance and violence directed against those of us whose sexuality questions the norms and conventions of the dominant culture. This film reminds us that all political, sexual or social struggles in opposition to reactionary and conservative forces are born out of a direct and dedicated activism. This film reminds us the gay movement has its roots in issues larger than itself : class consciousness, social equality and freedom of expression. This film presents all of these issues in a somewhat conventional form but without succumbing to obvious stereotypes or over-simplified scenario. This film represents its characters and situations with subtlety and compassion, while reminding us that our struggle continues.

This film is PRIDE, directed by Matthew Warchus.” Bruce LaBruce, president of the 2014 Queer Palm Jury

This year I will watch the Queer Palm award winner for sure and know will enjoy it. Good.

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4/25/14
Today the Queer Palm sponsor, Yagg, published the list of feature films to be considered for this edition of the award; list is not yet at the official site but imagine that soon will be here.

These are the thirteen (13) feature films announced today.

Main Competition
Saint Laurent, Bertrand Bonello, France (G)
Mommy, Xavier Dolan, Canada and France (G)

Un Certain Regard
도희야 Dohee-ya (A Girl at my Door), July Jung, South Korea (L)
Party Girl de Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger et Samuel Theis, France (L? or G?)
Xenia, Panos Koutras, Greece, France and Belgium (G)

Quinzaine des Réalisateurs
Bande de Filles (Girlhood), Céline Sciamma, France (L)
Les Combattants (Love At First Fight), Thomas Cailley, France (?)
Pride, Matthew Warchus, UK (L&G)
Whiplash, Damien Chazelle, USA (G)

Semaine de la Critique
Faire l'amour (aka FLA), Djinn Carrénard, France (L?)
Når dyrene drømmer (When Animals Dream), Jonas Alexander Arnby, Denmark (L?)
Più buio di mezzanotte (Darker that Midnight), Sebastiano Riso, Italy (Q)
Respire, Mélanie Laurent, France (L)

To check the news at Yagg go here.  Will be checking at the official site to verify if there are more films to be considered and if positive, will modify post accordingly.


Jury
President: Bruce LaBruce, director, Canada
Ana Margarita Albelo, director, Cuba and USA
Joao Ferreira, festival programer, Portugal
Charlotte Lipinska, film critic, France
Ricky Mastro, director, Brasil

To read info about each film go here.

To remind you the Queer Palm is the Cannes Film Festival queer, gay, lesbian, bi and trans (LGBT)award. Every year, a jury, including journalists, non-profit organizations members or artists, rewards one film listed in one of the following Cannes Film Festival selections : The Official Selection (in and out of competition), Un certain regard, The International Critics’ Week, the Directors’ Fortnight, The ACID’s (independent directors) selection. The Jury considers a film’s artistic, LGBT and gender-related topics qualities in order to award this film.

The trailer