Beginning wins Golden Shell

Georgian film takes top prize at San Sebastian

by Amber Wilkinson

Beginning
Beginning Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival

Georgian film Beginning, directed by Dea Kulumbegashvili, won the Golden Shell for best film at San Sebastian Film Festival last weekend, along. Originally slated to feature at Cannes, the film which charts the attack on a Jehovah Witness community in a small town by an extremist group, also won the Silver Shells for best director, screenplay and best actress (Ia Sukhitashvili).

The male ensemble cast of Thomas Vinterberg's Another Round - Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Millang and Lars Ranthe - shared the Silver Shell for best actor.

In the New Directors section, Last Days Of Spring, directed by Isabel Lamberti, took the top award, while the Horizontes Latinos prize went to Fernanda Valadez for Identifying Features. Documentary Crock Of Gold: A Few Rounds With Shane MacGowan - Julien Tempole's film about The Pogues frontman - won the Special Jury Prize, while Florian Zeller's The Father, starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman, won the audience award.

The full list of winners is below:

Golden Shell For Best Film
Beginning (France-Georgia), Dir: Dea Kulumbegashvili

Special Jury Prize
Crock Of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan. (UK), Dir: Julien Temple

Silver Shell For Best Director
Beginning (France-Georgia), Dir: Dea Kulumbegashvili

Silver Shell For Best Actress
Ia Sukhitashvili for Beginning

Silver Shell For Best Actor
Ex aequo for Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Millang and Lars Ranthe for Another Round (Denmark-Sweden-Netherlands)

Jury Prize For Best Cinematography
Yuta Tsukinaga for Any Crybabies Around? (Japan)

Jury Prize For Best Screenplay
Dea Kulumbegashvili, Rati Oneli for Beginning

Kutxabank-New Directors Award
Last Days Of Spring (Netherlands-Spain), Dir: Isabel Lamberti

Special Mention
Slow Singing (China), Dir: Dong Xingyi

Horizontes Award
Identifying Features (Mexico-Spain), Dir: Fernanda Valadez

Special mention:
One In A Thousand (Argentina-Germany), Dir: Clarisa Navas

Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Award
The Metamorphosis Of Birds (Portugal), Dir: Catarina Vasconcelos

Special mention
The Woman Who Ran (South Korea), Dir: Hong Sang-soo

San Sebastián Audience Award
The Father (UK), Dir: Florian Zeller

San Sebastián Audience Award for European Films
The Mole Agent (Chile-US- Germany-Netherlands-Spain), Dir: Maite Alberdi

Irizar Basque Film Award
Ane is Missing (Spain), Dir: David Perez Sañudo

Special Mention
Where is Mikel (Spain), Dirs; Amaia Merino and Miguel Ángel Llamas

TCM Youth Award
Limbo (UK), Dir: Ben Sharrock

Fipresci Award
Wuhai (China), Dir: Zhou Ziyang

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