Cidade Baixa, Cinema, Aspirinas e Urubus, Crime Delicado
Film Trio Dominate 2005 Awards

Three films from the thirty-seven screened in Festival do Rio's Première Brasil competition section emerge to take all but two of the main prizes handed out by the official jury, presided over this year by Venice Film Festival director Marco Muller.

Sergio Machado´s Cidade de Baixa (Lower City), and Marcelo Gomes' Cinema, Aspirinas e Urubus (Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures), both which proved popular with the critics at Cannes this year, each take two prizes. Co-incidentally, both share a co-writer and male lead, in writer Karim Ainouz, and actor João Miguel, who is singled out for his performance in Cinema, Aspirinas e Urubus to take the best actor award.

The other jury favourite, Crime Delicado, which wins best director award for Beto Brant also receives the special prize from the FIPRESCI Jury.

Cidade Baixa, the story of three petty criminal drifters who end up sharing each other's company receives the best fiction feature prize and best actress award for Alice Braga, who first came to attention in City of God. Great acting is obviously in the family genes, Alice is niece of that other great Brazilian actress, Sonia Braga.

Cinema, Aspirinas e Urubus, a road movie of a German runaway soldier coming to Brazil in 1942 to sell Aspirin, wins best actor award for João Miguel, and also receives the official jury special prize.

Also awarded by the jury are Joel Pizzini for best feature documentary for his 500 Almas ( 500 Souls) which examines the life of the Guató Indians of Brazil's central west, once thought to be extinct but rediscovered in the 1970's. Best Short award goes to Curupira, the story of a ten year old girl living under semi-slavery on her uncle's farm, from directors Fabio Mendonça and Guilherme Ramalho.

The public jury, however, was at odds with the official jury, choosing instead as their favourite film João Falcão's A Máquina (The Machine) in which a young Northeast girl's dreams of becoming an actress send her boyfriend on a kamikaze mission to bring her dreams to her.

Best documentary vote from the audience is awarded to Evaldo Mocarzel's Do Luto À Luta (From Grief To Struggle), a searching look into Down Syndrome which affects almost 8,000 babies a year in Brazil. Best short is awarded to Historietas Assombradas (Haunted Tales For Wicked Kids) from director Victor Hugo Borges, based around scary tales for young minds.

The second FIPRRESCI prize, for best Latin film, is given to Carlos Reygadas for Batalha No Céu (Battle In Heaven), in which a failed kidnapper and unlikely prostitute embark on a peculiar relationship.


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Winners of PREMIERE BRAZIL and other prizes.
FULL LIST

OFFICIAL JURY AWARDS.

Presided over by Venice Film Festival director Marco Muller, with film director Katia Lund, actor Milton Gonçalves, and screenwriter Elena Soarez.

- Best Fiction Feature - CIDADE BAIXA/Lower City, by Sergio Machado
- Best Feature-Length Documentary - 500 ALMAS/500 Souls, by Joel Pizzini
- Best Short - CURUPIRA, by Fabio Mendonça and Guilherme Ramalho
- Best Director - BETO BRANT, Crime Delicado/Delicate Crime.
- Best Actor - JOÃO MIGUEL, Cinema, Aspirinas e Urubus/Cinema, Aspirins, and
Vultures
- Best Actress - ALICE BRAGA, Cidade Baixa
- Special Jury Prize - CINEMA, ASPIRINAS E URUBUS, by Marcelo Gomes


AUDIENCE AWARDS/POPULAR VOTE
- Best Fiction Feature - A MÁQUINA/The Machine by João Falcão.
- Best Feature-Length Documentary - DO LUTO À LUTA/From Grief To Struggle, by
Evaldo Mocarzel.
- Best Short - HISTORIETAS ASSOMBRADAS (Para Crianças Malcriadas)/Haunted Tales For Wicked Kids, by Victor Hugo Borges.

Prizes:
Prêmio Cinemark for audience awards:
Best fiction feature - R$ 20.000,00
Best feature length documentary - R$ 5.000,00

Prêmio Globo Filmes -Best Documentary Award -
Special prize of R$100,000 in media support towards the film release in Rio de Janeiro.

FIPRESCI - Prize of the International Federation of Film Critics:

Best Latin Film - BATALHA NO CÉU (Batalla en el Ceilo)/Battle In Heaven, by. Carlo Reygadas. Special Jury Prize - BETO BRANT for Crime Delicado/Delicate Crime.

Première Brasil winners for fiction feature and documentary in previous years have been: Tainá, by Tânia Lamarca and Sérgio Bloch and O Sonho de Rose - 10 anos depois, by Tetê Moraes in 2000; Bellini e a Esfinge, by Roberto Santucci and Onde a Terra Acaba, by Sérgio Machado (2001); Seja o que Deus quiser, by Murilo Salles and Ônibus 174, by José Padilha (2002); Narradores de Javé, by Eliane Caffé and Fala Tu, by Guilherme Coelho (2003) , Contratodos by Roberto Moreira and Estamira, by Marcos Prado in 2004.

In this seventh edition of Festival do Rio over 300 films have been screened at almost 20 cinemas, on the beach and at the Lonas Culturais, as well as bringing the international industry together for seminars and debates, drawing the best of world cinema to the city.