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A Chiara wins Cannes Label gong

Italian Jonas Carpignano takes prize for the second time

by Richard Mowe

Jury citation for A Chiara: 'This story of the gradual empowerment of the young female character and her relationship with her father and her extended family is brilliantly structured and built' Photo: Courtesy of Cannes Directors' Fortnight

Italian writer-director Jonas Carpignano has scored with A Chiara, which has won the Europa Cinemas Cannes Label for best European film at Directors’ Fortnight, the festival’s independent parallel section.

Carpignano took the same prize in 2017 for his previous film, The Ciambra, which was executive produced by Martin Scorsese.

Magnetic Beats Photo: Courtesy of Director's Fortnight

A Chiara focuses on a family’s 16-year-old daughter and her growing realisation that her beloved father may be part of the local criminal organisation. Set in the Calabrian city of Gioia Tauro, the winner was decided by a jury of four exhibitors from the pan-European network and the film will now receive the support of the Europa Cinemas Network, with additional promotion and incentives for exhibitors to extend the film’s run on screen.

A statement from the jury said: “This story of the gradual empowerment of the young female character and her relationship with her father and her extended family is brilliantly structured and built. The casting of non-professionals in all of the roles works extremely well.”

In the second Directors’ Fortnight prize announcement, Vincent Maël Cardona’s feature debut Magnetic Beats (Les Magnétiques) won the section’s SACD Prize, awarded by France’s Writers’ Guild. Cardona’s short, Anywhere Out of the World, featured at the 2010’s Cannes Cine-fondation student short competition.

The film takes place in Brittany in the 1980s, and follows a group of friends working in a free radio station.

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