Driving Mum speeds off with top prize in Tallinn

The Land Within and The Poet also among winners

by Amber Wilkinson

Driving Mum
Driving Mum

Melancholic comedy drama Driving Mum sped off with the top prize in Tallinn this evening.

The black-and-white film, directed by Hilmar Oddsson, which sees a man go on an often surreal road trip with his dead mother in the backseat, also saw its Estonian composer Tõnu Kõrvits win a prize for Best Original Score.

The festival's Best First Feature prize went to The Land Within, a drama concerning the exhumation of a Balkan mass grave, directed by Fisnik Maxwell. Lithuanian historical drama The Poet, directed by Giedrius Tamosevicius and Vytautas V Landsbergis, won the Baltic Competition, while the Rebels With A Cause award went to José Luis Rugeles' Rebelion, about salsa star Joe Arroyo, while the Best Critics' Picks film was named as Jun Robles Lara's About Us But Not About Us.

The acting awards went to Antonia Zegers for The Punishment and Gurban Ismailov for Cold As Marble. In the main competition, the Best Director prize went to Ahmad Bahrami for his bleak tale of revenge The Wastetown and Best Screenplay was given to Shahar Rozen and Dudu Busi for DUCKS – An Urban Legend.

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