Vita gazette – It is Sentinelle Sud / South Sentinel by Mathieu Gérault (difficulties caused by the return of the war) the winning film of the Mostra Concorso of the 40th edition of Bergamo Film Meeting. And Blue Moon by Alina Grigore (The story of a young girl who fights against domestic violence) is the film that won Best Director.

Here are all the winners

WINNER (Best Film) – Mathieu Gérault-Sentinelle Sud (difficulties caused by the return of the war)

Dietrich Brüggemann-Nö (a thirteen-part film about love)

Mia Maariel Meyer-The Seed (a film about labour exploitation)

Iker Elorrieta-The Radio Amateur (A young autistic obsessed with radio engineering)

WINNER (Best Director) – Alina Grigore-Blue Moon (The story of a young girl who fights against domestic violence)

Darko Sinko – Inventory (A man’s dilemma being hit by a bodyguard for no reason)

Zdenek Jiráský – Krystof (on the purges of Czech religious institutions in the Stalinist era)

Sentinelle Sud / South Sentinel by Mathieu Gérault (difficulties caused by the return of the war) is the winning film of the Mostra Concorso of the 40th edition of Bergamo Film Meeting. The Bergamo Film Meeting Prize worth 5,000 euros goes to the film, which was voted for by the public.

In the film The journey of Christian Lafayette, a French soldier who, in the aftermath of a murderous ambush in Afghanistan, returned to France. Soon embroiled in opium trafficking with Mounir, his brother-in-arms who was injured in the ambush, Lafayette, a foster child and tormented war hero, chooses a new family and a new life: a life as a criminal. To escape this vicious cycle of violence, Christians must learn to love.

The international jury, chaired by Volker Schlöndorff (director) and also composed of Frédéric Boyer (director of Les Arcs Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival and RIFF of Reykjavík) and Nicoletta Romeo (co-director of Trieste Film Festival and film producer) assigns the Award for the Best Direction worth 2,000 euros to Craig nou / Blue Moon by Alina Grigore (Romania, 2021).

The public vote assigns the CGIL Bergamo Best Documentary Award of 2,000 euros for the Close Up View section to the documentary Calendar Girls by Maria Loohufvud and Love Martinsen, while the CGIL – La Sortie de dell’Usine Jury Prize, awarded by the trade union delegates of CGIL Bergamo to the documentary that best deals with issues related to the world of work and the social world (€ 1,000), goes to Det er ikke slut endnu / It Is Not Over Yet by Louise Detlefsen (Denmark, 2021). The same jury awards two special mentions: the first to Pasienio Paukščiai / Before they Meet by Vytautas Puidokas (Belgium, Lithuania, Croatia, Norway 2021) and the second to Shi Shi Shi / A Marble Travelogue by Sean Wang (Netherlands, China, France, Greece, 2021).

The 41st edition of Bergamo Film Meeting will be held from 11 to 19 March 2023.