Palm Trees and Power Lines, a coming-of-age story directed by Southern Californian Jamie Dack, won the best picture award as the 40th Torino Film Festival came to a close on Saturday. The prize has a value of €18,000 ($18,967).
Dack, who won the Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. Dramatic directing prize, also shared the Torino Award for Best Script with her co-writer Audrey Findlay.
Gretchen Mol, Jonathan Tucker, and Lily McInerny star in Dack’s film, which is based on the 2018 short film of the same name. Lily McInerny was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for best breakthrough performance for her work as a 17-year-old who has a transformative encounter with a man twice her age.
The jury gave “Rodeo,” the first film by French photojournalist-turned-director Lola Quivoron, the special jury award (worth €7,000), as well as the best actress award to Julie Ledru, who plays the protagonist character. A young woman slips into the male-dominated and deadly world of underground motocross riders in the movie, which earned Cannes’ 2022 Un Certain Regard Jury Prize.
For their performances in Gina Gammell and Riley Keough’s “War Pony,” which took home the Golden Camera at the Cannes Film Festival, Jojo Baptise Whiting and Ladainian Crazy Thunder earned the award for best actor.
The suspense novel “Nagisa” by Takeshi Kogahara was given a Special Mention for “the depth and uniqueness of his language.” The Mar Del Plata Film Festival’s president, Fernando E. Juan Lima, and producers Nella Banfi, Mike Kaplan, Fabio Ferzetti, Martina Parenti, and Fernando E. Juan Lima selected the winners of the international feature film prizes.
Two top honors were given out by the international documentary jury, which was comprised of director Massimo D’Anolfi, and producers Uljana Kim, and Miguel Valverde. “Riotsville, USA,” directed by Sierra Pettengill, won the best film prize (worth €6,000), and the special jury award went to “Where Is This Street? Or With No Before and After,” by Joo Pedro Rodrigues and Joo Rui Guerra da Mata.
The Italian documentary category saw Cecile Khindria and Vittorio Moroni’s “N’en parlons plus” win the special jury award. In contrast, the directorial team Santabelva’s feature “Corpo Degli Giorni” won the best film award and a cash reward of €6,000.
Last but not least, Ilaria Di Carlo’s eerie story “Sirens” won the €2,000 prize for best short in the Spazio Italia strand, while the jury of the brand-new section Crazies, led by Lamberto Bava, selected Michelle Garza Cervera’s horror thriller “Huesera” as the segment’s best film.
Steve Della Casa, the artistic director, emphasized how this year’s production ultimately brought large audiences back to theaters, with long lines outside each screening, despite some “imperfections.”
The 2023 Torino Film Festival will take place from November 24 to December 2.