Spanish language films have dominated this year’s Raindance Film Festival awards, with The Shepherd taking three prizes – Best Film, Best Director for Jonathan Cenzual Burley and Best Actor for Miguel Martin. It follows the story of a man whose home and livelihood are threatened by a big construction company that wants his land.
The jury – including actors Joanna Lumley, Stephen Fry, Imelda Staunton, Jodie Whittaker and Olivia Colman, as well as a number of critics – awarded the Best Actress prize to Camila Romagnolo for Hortensia.
And the Best Screenplay award went to Joaquin del Paso and Lucy Pawlak for Panamerican Machinery.
There was a major award for a UK feature. Miranda Bowen’s Gozo won – Best UK Film.
South African-born, LA-based director Rudolf Buitendach won the festival’s Indie Award for his third feature, Selling Isobel, a drama exposing the sex-slave industry in London.
The Best Documentary prize went to Growing Up Coy, which follows a Colorado family’s efforts to win support for their transgender six year old to use the girl’s toilets at school.
The Raindance organisers also handed a Film of the Festival Award to Rick Darge’s Zen Dog, about a man whose daily routine is altered when he takes up lucid dreaming.
Raindance 2016 also handed out Auteur Award, for the first time, to the two-time Palme d’Or-winning director Ken Loach.
The full list of Raindance winners:
Best Film – The Shepherd
Best Director – Jonathan Cenzual Burley (The Shepherd)
Best Actor – Miguel Martin (The Shepherd)
Best Actress – Camila Romagnolo (Hortensia)
Best Screenplay – Joaquin del Paso and Lucy Pawlak (Panamerican Machinery)
Best UK Feature – Gozo
Best Documentary Feature – Growing Up Coy
Discovery Award/Best Debut Feature – Kamper
Indie Award – Selling Isobel
Film of the Festival Award – Zen Dog
Raindance Co-Produciton Best Potential for Brand Partnership Award, Supported by Imaginative Exposure – The Bicycle
Best Short Film – A l’Arraché (Snatched)
Best UK Short Film – Healey’s House
Best Music Video – Joy