Santiago Otheguy (above, right) directed and wrote (from a story he’d co-written with Juan Solanas) the Argentinian drama. La León, winner of the jury’s best film award at the 2008 Turin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Set in northern Argentina’s Paraná Delta, La León depicts the conflict that develops between a lonely gay river worker (Jorge Román) and the captain of a passenger-boat (Daniel Valenzuela), in what sounds like a revamped take on Billy Budd. In Variety, Jay Weissberg wrote, "Beautifully textured b&w widescreen lensing conveys everything La León wants to say about isolation and longing, visualizing the distances between people as surely as if helmer/scripter Santiago Otheguy had opted for garrulous characters." Photo: Courtesy Torino GLBT Film Festival.

BEST FEATURE FILM
La León directed by Santiago Otheguy (Argentine/France, 2007)

SPECIAL JURY AWARD
Was am Ende zählt (Nothing Else Matters) (top photo) directed by Julia von Heinz (Germany, 2007) and Les Chansons d’amour (bottom photo) directed by Christophe Honoré (France, 2007)

BEST SHORT FILM
Alguma Coisa Assim (Something Like That) directed by Esmir Filho (Brazil, 2007)

Special Mention
En liten Tiger directed by Anna-Carin Andersson (Sweden, 2006)

BEST DOCUMENTARY
A Jihad for Love directed by Parvez Sharma (USA/Germany/UK/France/Australia, 2007)

Special Mention:
Darling! The Pieter-Dirk Uys Story directed by Julian Shaw (Australia, 2007) and Behikvot Ahatiha Ahasera (The Quest for the Missing Piece) by Oded Lotan (Israel, 2007)

“NUOVI SGUARDI” AWARD
Panorama directed by Loo Hui Phang (France, 2007) and Solos directed by Kan Lume and Loo Zihan (Singapore, 2007)

Special Mention
Love and Words directed by Sylvie Ballyot (France, 2007)

AUDIENCE AWARDS:

BEST FEATURE FILM
Were the World Mine directed by Tom Gustafson (USA, 2008)

BEST SHORT FILM
Café com Leite by Daniel Ribeiro (Brazil, 2007)

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Darling! The Pieter-Dirk Uys Story directed by Julian Shaw (Australia, 2007)

3 Responses to “Turin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Awards 2008”

1. Gian on April 30th, 2008 5:51 pm

   Is the Were the World Mine going to get US distribution?

2. Andre Soares on April 30th, 2008 5:56 pm

   I’m not sure. You might want to take a look at the film’s website — if there is one.

3. Lesbian Films Reviewer on June 19th, 2008 10:58 pm

   Hmmm , No lesbian movies immediately jump out at me. And can I say not actually jumps out as being a must watch

   Webmaster
   Lesbian Films Reviewer

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