Sudanese film wins Grand International Prize of Vila do Conde

“ Nothing Happens After Your Absence” (2026), with 15 minutes, was distinguished by the jury with the main award of the 34th edition of the festival, which awarded the award for the best national film to the work of director João Pedro Barriga.

The main theme of Sudanese director Ibrahim Omar's film is the struggle for survival before the outbreak of the civil war in Sudan, crossed with the themes of exile, memory, fragile identity and the impact of bureaucracy and local traditions.

In turn, the Portuguese short “From Silence to Word” focuses on the memory of Portuguese cinema, the interrupted artistic creation, and the poetic connection with the transmontan landscape, assuming the format of a film-test structured through a mythological narrative, according to the synopsis of the festival.

At the International Competition, Antonio Donato’s “Oh Boys”, he received the award for Best Fiction Film and was also selected for the European Film Awards Short Film Prix Vimeo Candidate 2027.

The announcement of the Palmares of the 34th edition of Curtas Vila do Conde, which brought together a total of 244 films from 44 countries, between national and world premieres, new talents and consecrated authors, marks the end of the competition of this edition “marked by the plurality of languages, the discovery and dialogue between cinema, society and freedom”, underlines the organization, in a statement, reminding the space the role of the event in the dissemination and reflection on the short film in Portugal.

In the International Competition, the award for Best Documentary was awarded to “Plan Contraplan”, by Radu Jude and Adrian Cioflanca, while “Dernier Printemps”, by Mathilde Bédouet, received the award for Best Animation.

The film “A quoi revent les Maknines”, by Sarra Ryma, was the most popular and received the International Audience Award.

In the Take One! section, dedicated to films made in a school context, “Quelle Soif!” by Francisco João, won the Best Film Award, while the Best Accomplishment Award was awarded to Clara Vieira, for “Where Pirillampos are born”, and the film “Morgenkreis”, by Basma Alsharif, won the Experimental Competition.

In the My Generation section, the Public Award was awarded to “Kiss Kiss Bang” by Ollie Launspach, winning the viewers’ preference in a section dedicated to new voices and different views on contemporary cinema.

Inaugurated on 17 July, the event, which has its last day on Sunday, had Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof highlighted in the section In Focus (‘In Focus’) of Curtas, a retrospective of a film “deeply marked by censorship, political repression and the defense of freedom of expression”.

The Iranian conquered the Golden Bear in Berlin with “There Is No Evil” (2020), filmed clandestinely in his country, and has been subject to criticism and persecution by the Iranian regime, from prison to prohibition of filming.

The feature film “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” (2024), his latest work, was included in the programme, as well as “Iron Island” (2005) and “A Man of Integrity” (2017).

The program also featured a special session, “Iram, Cinema and Freedom”, with journalist Ricardo Alexandre, author of “All About Iran”, in the context of the US and Israeli offensive in this Middle East country.

In all, Curtas programmed 244 films, 224 short films and, moreover, ‘long’, of 6,178 applications, seeing 44 different countries represented in the 91 sessions scheduled, with 59 Portuguese productions, which added conversations, workshops and other activities, including for the younger public.

The national official selection included films by Rita Barbosa, Pedro Ramalhete, Filipe Melo, Daniel Soares, João Pedro Barriga, Maria Novo, Ana Fernandes and Joana Vieira da Costa, Ala Nunu, Matilde Camacho, Gonçalo Pina, Inês Pedrosa and Melo, Carlos Conceição, João Niza Ribeiro and Susa Monteiro, varying between fiction, animation and documentary.