Sid Lucero and Emilio Garcia won the Best Actor award (ex aequo) at the 49th Thessaloniki International Film Festival in Greece. It was the first time that the festival included a Filipino film in its main competition program.
Directors Paolo Villaluna and Ellen Ramos of Selda (The Inmate) were there to receive the award on behalf of Sid and Emilio.
Selda’s screenings were held last Nov. 17 at the Olympion and Nov. 18 at the Frida Liappa. The festival started last Nov. 14 and ended last Sunday.
Although the festival was only this month, the festival already invited the film last April to secure the film’s European premiere.
Selda competed at the Montreal World Film Festival in Canada last August, the first Filipino film to do so.
Jury president Michael Ondaatje from Canada said Selda is “a powerful film.”
Selda was programmed by Lefteris Adamis and Maria Hatzakou who became ardent supporters of Filipino movies after screening Brillante Mendoza’s Masahista in 2005. They have programmed Filipino movies like Jeffrey Jeturian’s Kubrador (2006) and Mendoza’s Foster Child (2007).
This year, they also have Mendoza’s Serbis (which has been acquired by a Greek distributor) and Francis Pasion’s Jay. Both films screened in the Independence Days section. Selda and Jay were represented by Ignatius Films Canada while Serbis was represented by Fortissimo Films.
The jury of the International Competition Section of the 49th Thessaloniki Film Festival is composed of Ondaatje, writer (Canada); president Diablo Cody, screenwriter (USA); Yesim Ustaoglu, director (Turkey); Lita Stantic, producer (Argentina); Émilie Dequenne, actress (Belgium); David Robinson, film critic (UK); and Dionissis Savopoulos, composer (Greece).