The Closing Session of the 27th International Queer Lisboa Film Festival took place tonight, at 9pm, in the Sala Manoel de Oliveira at Cinema São Jorge, where the winners of the Feature Film Competition, the Documentary Competition, the Short Film Competition, the European School Short Film Competition - "In My Shorts", and the Queer Art Competition, were announced:

 

FEATURE FILM COMPETITION

 

Best Film
Regra 34 / Rule 34, Julia Murat (Brazil, France, 2022, 100’)

 

“A film which lingers long after it’s over: it explores violence as oppression, and violence as hornyness; it opens up a conversation about the fluidity and limits of both sexuality and pleasure, one that’s free from moralisms, but also about racial and class inequalities in society and before the law. Above all, this is a necessary film for the times we’re living in. Like life itself, it is not restricted to a single theme or debate”.      

Special Mention
Opponent, Milad Alami (Sweden, Norway, 2023, 119’)

 

“A film which confronts us with who our enemies are. What is queer freedom? Both on the inside and on the outside? In and out of our homes, in and out of our countries, inside ourselves and when facing others? How can we guarantee human dignity in an uneven fight? None of us will be truly free until everybody else is”. 

 

Audience Award
Opponent, Milad Alami (Sweden, Norway, 2023, 119’)

 

 

DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

 

Best Film
Peixe Abissal / Abyssal Fish, Rafael Saar (Brazil, 2023, 110’)

 

“A film which dives into the poetic and biographic realm of Luís Capucho, musician, writer and painter who reemerged as an artist in the aftermath of a coma. His relationship with his mother and water, voyeurism and sexuality, his city and its spaces, his books and songs, all intertwine in a filmic journey where - through empathy and simplicity -, testimony, reenactment, and fantasy come together to portray a secretive and fascinating artist”.

 

Audience Award
Kokomo City, D. Smith (USA, 2023, 73’) 

 

 

SHORT FILM COMPETITION

 

Best Film
Troy, Mike Donahue (USA, 2022, 16’)

 

“The jury has decided to give the best short film award to Troy, by Mike Donahue, a bright and insightful comedy. This is a somber and comical narrative about the unexpected consequences of intimacy. The jury also congratulates Adina Verson’s astute acting”. 

 

Special Mention
Dipped in Black, Matthew Thorne, Derik Lynch (Australia, 2022, 25’)

 

“The jury has decided to award a special mention to Dipped In Black, by Matthew Thorne and Derik Lynch, for its heartfelt quote of the “two spirited” indigenous term, which designates indigenous people with two genders or “two worlds”, as the protagonist refers throughout the film”. 

 

Audience Award
Warsha, Dania Bdeir (France, Lebanon, 2022, 16’) 

 

 

EUROPEAN SCHOOL SHORT FILM COMPETITION - “IN MY SHORTS”

 

Best Film
Edge, Edmund Krempiński, Jakub Dylewsk (Poland, 2023, 18’)

 

“The jury has decided to award the Best In My Shorts Short Film to Edge, by Edmund Krempiński and Jakub Dylewsk, an ode to queer aesthetic and technique, as well as a reflection on identity as treasure.”

 

Special Mention
Les garçons dans l’eau / Boys in the Water, Pawel Thomas Larue (France, 2023, 39’)

 

“The jury has decided to award an In My Shorts special mention to Les garçons dans l'eau, by Pawel Thomas Larue. A beautiful love story and a praise to summer romance with well-deserved transmasculine representation.”
 

 

QUEER ART COMPETITION

 

Best Film
O Estranho / The Intrusion, Flora Dias, Juruna Mallon (Brazil, France, 2023, 107’)

 

“In a diverse competition featuring bold creative propositions, we give this award to a film which applies its resources to unveiling narratives of historically invisible communities with a distinctly sensitive and responsible gaze. As  a jury, we agree that works of art which resist the ease of vampirization are better suited to the needs of our time. The film still lingers in our memory, it breeds new meanings and reasserts its depth and relevance. The Queer Art award goes to The Intrusion, directed by Flora Dias and Juruna Mallon, who we congratulate for the creativity and commitment they’ve placed in their artistic gesture”.

 

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The current edition of the festival hosted dozens of international guests, coming from a diversity of countries, such as Brazil, Colombia, Ireland, USA, France, Germany, Poland or Sweden - in addition to the various guests from Portugal.

 

Cinema São Jorge and Cinemateca Portuguesa saw their audiences increase compared to the previous edition, reaching 7.500 spectators, besides the many who attended the festival’s parallel activities.

With another edition of Queer Lisboa coming to an end, the dates for Queer Lisboa 28 are now confirmed, taking place from the 20th to the 28th of September 2024, at Cinema São Jorge and Cinemateca Portuguesa. Meanwhile, the 9th edition of Queer Porto will happen between the 10th and 14th of October 2023, at Cinema Batalha and Casa Comum (University of Porto).