Awards

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION SHORT FILMS

Grand Prize CINANIMA 2022
Espinho City Award

BESTIA

Hugo Covarrubias – Chile

Based on true events, "Bestia" explores the life of a secret police agent during the military dictatorship in Chile. Her relationship with her dog, her body, her fears and frustrations reveals a grim fracture of her mind and of the country.

Jury Special Award

A TINY MAN

Aude David, Mikaël Gaudin – France

Complexed by his wife’s body, a man sneakily administers a mysterious serum supposed to make her lose weight quickly. But following a prank by his wife, it is he who swallows the beverage and starts to shrink visibly.

Award For the Best Short Film Up to 8 Minutes
Alves-Costa Award

DON’T DIE ON ME

Ori Goldberg – Israel

Asthmatic Matti is coughing again, and again he hears the irritating sentence “Don’t die on”.  Only this time, he’s going to. A revolting portrayal of the noisy life inside a malfunctioning body, and the sweet, deadly silence that stops it.

Award For the Best Short Film Over 8 to 24 Minutes

STEAKHOUSE

Špela Čadež – Slovenia, Germany, France

The steak has been marinating for a few days now. The pan is heated. Franc’s stomach is rumbling. But Liza’s co-workers surprise her with a birthday party. Will she be home on time?

Award For Best Animated Documentary

THE GARBAGE MAN

Laura Gonçalves – Portugal

On a hot August afternoon, the family gathered at the table remembers uncle Botão: the Colonial War, emigration to France, where he lived and worked thirty years as a garbage man. Memories of each are crossed to tell the story of a man who lived a hard life through humor and fantasy, like when he returned to Belmonte, in a van full of trash, turned into a real
treasure.

Award For Best Animated Documentary

#BINARYGENDER-NORM: GIRLS

Bernardita Ojeda Salas, Cristián Freire Azzarelli – Chile

What behaviors and activities are considered appropriate for girls in school? Thinking that it is not appropriate for girls to scream loudly or to do activities that are considered for boys; assuming that they are the caregivers and should be more responsible for considering themselves more mature than their peers, are some examples of the normative idea of gender.

COMMENDATIONS

BEST ART DIRECTION
SLOW LIGHT

K. Kijek, P. Adamski –  Poland

A boy who was born blind, suddenly at the age of seven sees a light. A medical examination
reveals that his eyes are so dense that it takes seven years for the light to reach the retina and
hence for the image to reach his consciousness.
The consequence of the eye defect translates into the mental immaturity of the man, lack of
understanding of the present and belated reflections on long-gone facts. The man is never
mature enough for his age and constantly lingers on the past.

BEST SCREENWRITING
THE HOUSE OF LOSS

Jinkyu Jeon – Japan

The elderly at the nursing home have their heads shaved. The protagonist who works there
sees them but can’t read their expressions. However, from one instance, he finds himself
looking closely at their faces.

BEST SOUND DESIGN
ICE MERCHANTS

João Gonzalez – Portugal, France, UK

Every day, a father and his son jump with a parachute from their vertiginous cold house,
attached to a cliff, to go to the village on the ground, far away where they sell the ice they
produce daily.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION FEATURE FILMS

Grand Prize CINANIMA 2022 Feature Film

MY GRANDFATHER’S DEMONS

Nuno Beato – Portugal, Spain, France

Rosa, a top professional woman, highly rated in the business market, leads a demanding life entirely dedicated to her work. The sudden death of her grandfather, from whom she had progressively moved away, due to her endless work, ends up causing her a sudden attack of stress, that puts her choices in doubt. Rosa decides to leave the city and set out to find the place and the memories of her childhood, lived with her grandfather. When she arrives at the isolated property, in the middle of the Trás-os-Montes landscape, she discovers that her grandfather left her a set of practically abandoned lands and an almost in ruins house of her childhood.

Special Mention - Feature Film

NO DOGS OR ITALIANS ALLOWED

Alain Ughetto – France, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Portugal

In the beginning of the 20th century – Ughettera, Northern Italy, The Ughetto family’s village. Living in the region had become very difficult and the Ughettos dream of a better life abroad. Legend has it that Luigi Ughetto crossed the Alps starting a new life in France, thus changing the destiny of his beloved family forever. His grandson travels back in time revisiting their history.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION STUDENT FILMS

Grand Prize CINANIMA 2022 Student
Student Films Gaston Roch Award

CURIOSA

Tessa Moult-Milewska – United Kingdom

Curiosa tells the story of overly curious Mary, who visits her boyfriend’s flat for the first time, just to discover it’s been stripped bare of all personal belongings. After being denied an explanation, she climbs into his head.

Special Mention - Student Films

AN OSTRICH TOLD ME THE WORLD IS FAKE AND I THINK I BELIEVE IT

Lanchlan Pendragon – Australia

When a young telemarketer is confronted by a mysterious talking ostrich, he learns that the universe is stop motion animation. He must put aside his dwindling toaster sales and focus on convincing his colleagues of his terrifying discovery

Audience Award

NAYOLA

José Miguel Ribeiro – Portugal, Belgium, France, Netherlands

Angola. Three generation of women in a 25-year- long civil war: Lelena (the grandmother), Nayola (the daughter) and Yara (the granddaughter). Past and present interlace. Nayola goes in search of her missing husband at the height of the war. Decades later, the country is finally at peace but Nayola has not returned. Yara has become a rebellious teenager and a subversive rap singer. Lelena tries to contain her for fear of the police coming to arrest her. One night, a masked intruder breaks into their house, armed with a machete. An encounter like nothing they could have imagined…

NATIONAL COMPETITION

António Gaio Award

THE GARBAGE MAN

Laura Gonçalves

On a hot August afternoon, the family gathered at the table remembers uncle Botão: the Colonial War, emigration to France, where he lived and worked thirty years as a garbage man. Memories of each are crossed to tell the story of a man who lived a hard life through humor and fantasy, like when he returned to Belmonte, in a van full of trash, turned into a real
treasure.

António Gaio Special Mention

GARRANO

Vasco Sá, David Doutel

A Garrano horse is forced to pull a heavy load under a blazing sun. Young boy Joel discovers a man who is about to set a forest on fire.

Young Portuguese Director Award
(Under 18 years old)

MAGICAL CHERRY TREE

Graça Gomes, Participant Schools of the Project: Pequeno Cinema 2021/2022 Viseu

The movie showcases the result of the “Little Cinema” animation workshops for schools. These workshops take place in the classroom, last between 1h30 and 2h, and allow the students to have a first contact with stop motion animation techniques.

Young Portuguese Director Special Mention
(Under 18 years old)

THE SMALL MEMORIES

Ana Emília Valente, Carina Silva, Elisabete Pereira, Filipe Oliveira, Firmino Matos, Isabel Matos, Joana Sousa, Margarida Beirão, Manuel Sousa, Maria Adelaide Teixeira, Paulo Brito, Pedro Rebelo, Sandra Almeida, Sofia Anjos, Vera Santos, Vitor Marques, Zelinda Moutela

Journey to José Saramago’s childhood memories in Azinhaga, through drawings, paintings, sculptures and embroidery. In the centenary year of his birth, we paid tribute to him, adapting and interpreting his book ‘As Pequenas Memórias’ (2006).

Young Portuguese Director Award
(More than 18 to 30 years old)

DUO

João Levezinho

A straight-forward animated narrative, a journey inside the mind, a thought, an idea. Visualizing what on the outside only seems like a few seconds. Peacefulness versus chaos. The self-indulgence of a character in a daze with their subconscious.

Young Portuguese Director Special Mention
(More than 18 to 30 years old)

Fire Embrace

Augusto Rocha

António is a soul shepherd that lives in a small desolate island in the middle of the Atlantic. His job is to bless the souls of the dead. One day, he comes across a weird soul that shows a different color…