A Good Wife wins best film at Ljubljana festival
Ljubljana, 19 November - The directorial debut by actress-turned-director Mirjana Karanović has won the main award at the Ljubljana International Film Festival, LIFFE. A Good Wife, the story of a Serbian woman who discovers her husband was a war criminal, was honoured with the Kingfisher Award on Saturday.
Ljubljana
Serbian director Mirjana Karanović receiving the main award of the Ljubljana International Film Festival for her debut A Good Wife.
Photo: Anže Malovrh/STA
Karanović, an acclaimed actress who also plays the female lead in the film, was honoured for what the jury called "realistic characters, firm narrative construction, excellent acting and surprising, ethical unravelling of events."
The jury comprised LIFFE founder Jelka Stergel, Polish film reporter Mariola Wiktor and Sarajevo-born director Pjer Žalica.
The audience's favourite, which received the Dragon Award, was the Columbian film Between Sea and Land by directors Carlos del Castillo and Manolo Cruz, winner of the audience award from Sundance's World Cinema dramatic competition.
The critics award, the FIPRESCI, went to The Red Turtle, the Japanese-French co-production directed by Michael Dudok de Wit, an animated film that is the first international production by the stories Japanese animation studio Ghibli.
The jury described it as an epic parable about human survival and humanity's attitude to nature, family, being and hope.
The award winners will be showcased at a special screening at the main festival venue, the Cankarjev dom, on Monday.
The award ceremony capped two weeks of events at what is the biggest film festival in Slovenia. It featured 103 feature-length films and 19 short films.