Valladolid Fest Prizes: ‘Dao’ Wins Golden Spike, ‘La Gradiva’ Silver

French-Senegalese filmmaker Alain Gomis’ “Dao,” an expansive family saga spanning Europe and Africa, was awarded the Golden Spike for best film at Spain’s 71st Valladolid International Film Festival (Seminci) while Marine Atlan’s acclaimed debut “La Gradiva” received the Silver Spike.

Unfolding between a wedding in France and an ancestral memorial ceremony in Guinea-Bissau, Gomis’ three-hour film blurs fiction and documentary, gathering a sprawling cast of professional and non-professional performers to explore family ties, migration and the pull of inherited traditions. The international jury praised the film’s distinctive cinematic form, citing its use of rhythm, duration and movement to create an intimate yet immersive atmosphere.

“Dao,” which world premiered in competition at Berlin, marks Gomis’ return to fiction features after “Félicité,” winner of the 2017 Berlinale Grand Jury Prize. Reviewing the new film, Variety’s Guy Lodge called it the director’s “most vibrantly expansive and accessible” work. The Party Film Sales handles international sales while Janus Films holds North American distribution rights.

Atlan’s “La Gradiva” premiered at Cannes’ Critics’ Week, where it won its top Grand Prix, before receiving the Melbourne International Film Festival’s Bright Horizons Award in August. At Valladolid, the French-Italian feature also picked up the José Salcedo editing prize for Guillaume Lillo and the Rainbow Spike, recognizing LGBTQ-related cinema.

Set during a French school trip to Naples and Pompeii, the film follows a group of teenagers navigating desire, insecurity and the last moments of adolescence. “Seismically sensitive and deeply moving,” wrote Variety critic Jessica Kiang, who called it “one of the most piercingly accurate and immersive portrayals ever” of that precarious age. MK2 Films represents international sales.

Argentine filmmaker Lisandro Alonso, whose credits include “Jauja” and “Eureka,” earned the Ribera del Duero best director award for “Double Freedom,” the well-received sequel to his 2001 debut “Freedom,” sold by Luxbox.

Acting honors went to Alba Rohrwacher for Stéphane Brizé’s “A Good Little Soldier,” in which she plays a corporate executive caught in a system of profit at any cost, and Swann Arlaud for Emmanuel Marre’s “A Man of His Time,” about a French engineer drawn into the Vichy regime.

Marre’s film also picked up the cinematography award for Olivier Boonjing. Austrian filmmaker Sandra Wollner won the Miguel Delibes screenplay prize for “Everytime,” a drama exploring grief and memory through digital technology. The official competition jury gave a special mention to Tiago Guedes’ “Aquí.”

Beyond the main competition, Thai filmmaker Sompot Chidgasornpongse took the Meeting Point prize for “9 Temples to Heaven,” which premiered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight. The contemplative family pilgrimage drama marks the fiction-feature debut of a longtime collaborator of Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Marc Ferrer’s “Cinemanía” received the Fundos Award, while Manon Coubia won the ESCAC directing prize for “Forest High.”

Spanish debut “Salen las lobas” emerged as a double audience favorite, taking both the Meeting Point Audience Award and the Seminci Youth Prize. Directed by Claudia Estrada Tarascó, the film follows girls in a juvenile justice facility who bond over music and dreams of a Barcelona trap competition. Produced by Alba Sotorra’s Oceanika, it is sold internationally by MoreThan Films and is set for a Dec. 11 Spanish theatrical release through Silencio Cinema.

In the Alchemies section, Ivan Marković’s “Promised Spaces,” a portrait of Cambodia’s rapidly transformed urban landscape, collected the Grand Prize. David Baute’s “Benigno,” about an elderly man preserving a disappearing way of life in the Canary Islands, received a special mention and the environmental Green Spike.

Hassen Ferhani’s Algeria-France production “Alea Jacarandas” took the Time of History Grand Prize, with the special award going to Mariano Llinás’ “Life of Jorge Luis Borges.” Isabelle Stever’s “I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming” received the FIPRESCI critics’ prize, while Markus Schleinzer’s “Rose” won the main competition Audience Award.

Seminci unveiled its winners Saturday morning in Valladolid after organizers canceled the traditional closing gala following a deadly train accident in Toledo province. Held Oct. 23-31, the festival’s 71st edition was led by interim co-directors Mariona Viader and Javier H. Estrada following the death of José Luis Cienfuegos last December.

Organizers reported a provisional audience tally of 100,000, more than 120 film discussions and participation by over 90% of the directors represented in its official sections. The festival closed with the Spanish premiere of Gael García Bernal’s “Hombre al agua.”

And the Awards:

OFFICIAL COMPETITION

Golden Spike

Alain Gomis, “Dao”

Silver Spike

Marine Atlan, “La Gradiva”

Ribera del Duero Award for Best Director

Lisandro Alonso, “Double Freedom”

Best Actress

Alba Rohrwacher, “A Good Little Soldier”

Best Actor

Swann Arlaud, “A Man of His Time”

Best Cinematography

Olivier Boonjing, “A Man of His Time”

Miguel Delibes Award for Best Screenplay

Sandra Wollner, “Everytime”

José Salcedo Award for Best Editing

Guillaume Lillo, “La Gradiva”

Special Mention

Tiago Guedes, “Aquí”

MEETING POINT

Meeting Point Award

Sompot Chidgasornpongse, “9 Temples to Heaven”

Fundos Award

Marc Ferrer, “Cinemanía”

ESCAC Award for Best Director

Manon Coubia, “Forest High”

ALCHEMIES

Grand Prize

Ivan Marković, “Promised Spaces”

Special Mention

David Baute, “Benigno”

TIME OF HISTORY

Grand Prize

Hassen Ferhani, “Alea Jacarandas”

Special Award

Mariano Llinás, “Life of Jorge Luis Borges”

DOC. Spain Award

Eloy Enciso Cachafeiro, “Letters from an Inner Exile”

Special Mention

Beatrice Gibson, “At Night”

OTHER FEATURE AWARDS

Pilar Miró Prize for Best New Spanish Director

Sebastián Uría, “Adiós, ríos”

Miniminci Prize

Javier Martínez and Christian Garnez, “Momonsters. Película de Navidad”

Seminci Youth Prize

Claudia Estrada Tarascó, “Salen las lobas”

SHORT FILM AWARDS

Golden Spike

Arnas Balčiūnas, “Class Photo”

First Silver Spike

Blanca Camell Galí, “First Fire”

Second Silver Spike

Natalia Marín, “Chronicle of Tiredness”

Best European Short Film

Wannes Vanspauwen and Pol De Plecker, “Pithead”

Best Spanish Short Film

Mariona Martínez, “L’enterrament de la sardina”

Castilla y León Short Film Award

Juan Carlos Mostaza, “Under the Lake”

NON-OFFICIAL AWARDS

Rainbow Spike

Marine Atlan, “La Gradiva”

Green Spike

David Baute, “Benigno”

FIPRESCI Prize

Isabelle Stever, “I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming”

Audience Award — International Competition

Markus Schleinzer, “Rose”

Audience Award — Meeting Point

Claudia Estrada Tarascó, “Salen las lobas”

YOUTH JURY AWARDS

International Competition

Lance Hammer, “Queen at Sea”

Meeting Point

Jacqueline Lentzou, “A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra”

Best Short Film

Francisco Visceral Rivera, “El tamagochi escarlata”