‘Alpha’ Wins Europa Cinema Giornate Prize; ‘Aisha Can’t Fly Away’ Clinches Final Cut Award & Amazon Exec Glenn Gainor Feted By Producers Without Borders – Venice Briefs

‘Alpha’ Wins Europa Cinema Prize At Giornate Degli Autori

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Dutch director Jan-Willem van Ewijk’s Alps-set father and son survival drama Alpha has won the Europa Cinemas Label for Best European Film in parallel Venice section Giornate degli Autori. The award comes with promotional and exhibition support from the Europa Cinemas network. The jury consisted of Europa Cinema members Daira Āboliņa (Splendid Palace, Riga, Latvia); António Costa Valente (Teatro Aveirense, Aveiro, Portugal): Andrea Porta (Cinema Teatro Nuovo, Varese, Italy) and Jana Trnková (Head of PR & Marketing, Kino Světozor, Prague, Czech Republic). The film stars Reinout Scholten van Aschat and Gijs Scholten van Aschat as a son and father with a difficult relationship who find themselves battling for survival when the weather turns sour during a testing walk in the mountains.  Previous winners of the prize have included Ivan Ostrochovský and Pavol Pekarčík’s Photophobia , Wissam Charaf’s Dirty Difficult and Dangerous , Alessandro Cassigoli and Casey Kaufmann’s Californie , Ivan Ikić’s Oaza and Jan Komasa’s Corpus Christi .

‘Aisha Can’t Fly Away’ Wins Top Venice Final Cut Prize

Egyptian director Morad Mostafa’s drama Aisha Can’t Fly Away has won the top La Biennale di Venezia prize at the 12th edition of Venice’s Final Cut initiative, supporting films in post-production from Africa and Arab countries. Bankrolled by the Venice Film Festival’s parent body, the prize gives $5,500 (€5,000) for post-production.  Mostafa’s drama revolves around a Somali woman living in Cairo, who gets on the wrong side of a violent gang that controls her neighborhood. The prize jury was composed of Wayne Borg (NEOM) Monica Ciarli (Minerva Pictures), and Dennis Ruh, former head of the Berlinale’s EFM. “Despite being a first feature film, it showcased confident direction and a distinct cinematic voice. The film’s gritty realism, attention to detail, and impactful storytelling left a strong impression on us,” they said in a joint statement.

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Producers With Borders Fetes Glenn Gainor, Sep Rahi & Andrea Borella

Amazon exec Glenn Gainor was among a trio of producers alongside Sep Rahi and Andrea Borella feted by the Producers without Borders (PWB) network at its annual brunch in Venice. Global Tinker CEO, Sep Riahi, received the Children’s Media Producer of The Year Award for his outstanding contributions in global content creation for kids. Head of Executive Production at Notorious Pictures, Andrea Borella, received PWB’s nod as the Creative Executive Producer of the Year. The final award went to Glenn Gainor, Head of Physical Production, Amazon Original Movies at Amazon MGM Studios as The Social Impact Producer of the Year. “Throughout my thirty years of content creation, I make sure we leave communities better than when we first arrived,” commented Gainor. “As I look forward to the next few decades, I’m excited to learn from others with different backgrounds, varying cultures, and ideas I may never have come up with because our entertainment industry is growing in new communities with voices that have yet to be heard, and I can’t wait to help them.”

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