ARE YOU VOLEYBALL?, WINNER OF THE 9th EDITION OF THE BCN SPORTS FILM FESTIVAL

The Closing Ceremony of the BCN Sports Film Festival’s 9th Edition, celebrated in the Olympic and Sports Museum Joan Antoni Samaranch, has been the rallying point between the world of cinema, sports, politics and society.

Marta Carranza, President of the Fundació Barcelona Olímpica and Sports Commissioner of the Barcelona’s City Council was the person who awarded the Amphora Barcelona City to this edition’s best film to ARE YOU VOLLEYBALL?, a fiction shortfilm directed by Mohammad Bakhshi and produced by Rayanmehr. The actor Amir Azizi has collected the award.

ARE YOU VOLLEYBALL? tells the story of a group of Arabic-speaking asylum seekers that get to the border of an English-speaking country and can go no further. There are scuffles with the border guards every day until volleyball becomes the catalyst that improves relations.

The special award of the jury -Olga Viza, with a professional reporting career that has been rewarded with the Ondas Prize for Best Presenter, the TV Academy awarded her the Prize for Best Communicator and she has received the Silver Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit; Anna Corbella, who became the first Spanish woman to sail non-stop round the world; Josep Oriol Martínez, graduated from the University of Barcelona with a degree in Medicine and Surgery and a major in Adapted Sports; Paola Ruggeri, who works as International TV Marketing and Programming Analyst at the leading private network in Italy, RTI-Mediaset Group and Fran Terrón, manager of Institut Barcelona Esports– was for the movie UN JOC ANOMENAT ESPERANÇA (A game called hope) (Catalonia, 2017), directed by Jorge Martínez and produced by Barça Foundation. Accepting the award Jordi Cardoner, First Vice-President FC Barcelona and FCB Foundation; Maria Vallés, General Director of FCB Foundation, and Jorge Martínez director of Un joc anomenat Esperança.

This year the jury awarded two special mentions to the animation serie L’homme le plus petit du monde (France-Argentina 2017) by directed by Juan Pablo Zaramella and produced by Dora Benousilio, Jean-Pierre Lemouland and Luciana Roude and to the comercial spot Candide Thovex Quattro 2 (France 2017) by directed by Candide Thovex and produced by Jasper Sanders. 

The other awards were:

Award for best Catalan production

Viacruxis (Catalonia, 2018) directed and produced by Ignasi López who has received the award by Barbara Destefanis, BCN Sports Film Festival organitation committee.  

Award for best documentary production

Into Twin Galaxies – A Greenland Epic (Germany, 2016), directed by Jochen Schmoll and produced by Niko Jäger (Red Bull Media House) and Jochen Schmoll (Drehxtrem).

Azahara Moyano, BCN Sports Film selection committee member, gave the award to Jochen Schmoll. 

Award for best fiction film

Game (EEUU, 2017) directed by Jeannie Donohoe. A production by Lexus Short Films. Jeannie Donohoe expressed his gratitude via videoconference.

Award for best film of adventure sports – ÁLVARO BULTÓ

Annapurna III – Unclimbed (Germany, 2016) directed by Jochen Schmoll. Produced by Florian Klingler (Red Bull ASP Production) and Jochen Schmoll (Drehxtrem). Juli Pernas, Fundació Barcelona Olímpica Director, gave the award to Jochen Schmoll.

Juli Pernas, Fundació Barcelona Olímpica Director, gave the award to Jochen Schmoll.

Award for best animated film

Dear Basketball (EEUU, 2017) directed by Glen Keane. Produced by Gennie Rim (Glen Keane Productions, Granity Studios, Believe Entertainment Group), Kobe Bryant, Andrea Fairchild, Molly Carter, Dan Goodman, William H Masterson 111.

Espartac Peran was the master of ceremony in this 9th Edition of the BCN Sports Film Festival. 

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