By Valentini Anagnostopoulou
ATHENS, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- A lively award ceremony marked this weekend the closing of the 23rd Athens International Film Festival "Opening Nights", which ran from Sept. 20 to Oct. 1.
The juries, consisting of prominent critics and key players of the local and international film industry, presented a total of seven awards in three competitive sections.
The Golden Athena Award for best film was presented to Chloe Zao's "The Rider", a film on a young rodeo champion who is forced to quit what he loves most after a serious injury.
As the jury's rationale underlined, "The Rider" stood out "for the innovative and bold way in which the young director reshapes the boundaries between documentary and fiction, as well as for the exceptionally creative and gentle approach of the subject".
"The Rider" is set in the director's homeland South Dakota, U.S., a region which has attracted a lot of publicity lately, because of the construction of the much-debated Dakota Access Pipeline by the U.S. government.
"It's not a place that is being shown in the best light right now. I don't think it's fair, because these are some of the kindest, most generous people that I have met. So, it means a lot to me that you feel that you could relate to Brady and his story," Zao highlighted in her filmed message addressing the award ceremony.
Samuel Maoz's "Foxtrot", a witty and poignant comment on the Israeli-Palestinian war, won the City of Athens Best Director Award.
The Best Screenplay Award was presented to Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza for their "Sicilian Ghost Story", a film based on the tragic story of the abduction of a 13-year-old boy by the Mafia in 1990s' Sicily.
The Audience Award, which is determined by the daily vote of the audience, was presented to French Vladimir de Fontenay's "Mobile Homes", which follows young mother Ali and her 8-year-old son in their pursuit of a better life.
"Mobile Homes" was filmed under very adverse conditions in Canada with temperatures that often reached -35 degrees Celsius.
According to the director, however, adversity has added to the movie. "I hope that maybe the difficulty that we had to make it somehow transpires in the movie and inspired even more our actors," he told Xinhua.
De Fontenay, for whom "Mobile Homes" is his first feature film, has always been fascinated by characters who struggle to make the right decisions.
"The movie is very much about young people having a really hard time in today's world to do what's right for themselves and the people around them," he stressed.
In one the Festival's most popular sections, The Golden Athena Best Music & Film Award was presented to "Chavela", a biography of passionate Mexican singer Chavela Vargas, by Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi.
In the competitive section of Greek short stories, Christos Massalas won both Best Short Film award and Best Director for "Copa-Loca", the story of an abandoned Greek summer resort and its few remaining inhabitants.
"Copa-Loca", which is Massalas' fifth short film, had already had an exceptional kick-off, as it was selected to premier in this year's Directors' Fortnight in Cannes.
"I think it's a film that is light in tone and surface, but underneath there are more complex things and ideas," 30-year-old London-educated Massalas told Xinhua in a recent interview.
"By deconstructing this [resort], its processes and its memories, I think we can discover things about the recent Greek history," he said when asked what is the element that made his short film stand out.
This year's program hosted 108 full feature films and 57 shorts and attracted more than 70,000 spectators to the city's central theaters, making the 23rd Athens International Film Festival one of the most successful in its history.
