- On Friday, November 17, the closing ceremony in Brno concluded the Mezipatra Queer Film Festival.
- Altogether, the festival’s 24th edition with the theme of Crossroads introduced 69 feature, short and documentary films.
- The Audience Award, created by DECHEM design studio, went to the feature debut of Fireworks (Stranizza d'amuri) by the Italian director Giuseppe Fiorello.
On Friday, November 17, Mezipatra festival finished in Brno. The closing ceremony featured screening of Drifter, and announcing the Audience Award. This year, it went to the Italian love-story of Fireworks (Stranizza d'amuri) by director Giuseppe Fiorello.
The story of the Audience Award winner is inspired by true events in 1980s Sicily. Seventeen-year-old Gianni went through an involuntary coming-out and is struggling with constant attacks. In contrast, Nino is surrounded by a loving family, blissfully unaware of his sexuality. A coincidence brings their paths together and the boys become inseparable friends. Their friendship soon sprouts into pure love and the only thing they yearn for is to live their love story without fear.
Director Giuseppe Fiorello was not able to attend the closing ceremony in Art cinema, so he thanked all the Mezipatra audience remotely: “An audience award is a very important prize. Maybe it is one of the most beautiful, most touching, most sincere awards one can get throughout their whole career. I will give this award to all those who participated in shooting the film, I will share it with the whole production team which made this film possible, with producer Eleanora Pratelli, with Rai Cinema and all those who were standing by my side, the whole technical team and artistic team, the whole cast. And, above all, please allow me, with the two protagonists: Gabriele Pizzurro and Samuele Segreto, who portray the memory of the two boys from Giarre, Antonio and Giorgio. It’s them to whom I’m devoting my personal thoughts, my personal dedication.”
The main prizes were awarded at the Prague part of the festival. The Best Feature Film was South Korean Peafowl (Gong-jak-sae) by director Sung-bin Byun. The best short film was Blond Night (Nuit Blonde). The main jury’s special mention went to the Brazilian Rule 34 (Regra 34), and the student jury awarded short Neo Nahda.
Mezipatra festival finishes with the ceremony in Brno, but audiences may look forward to echoes in the regions. This year’s films will be screened for example in Olomouc. And throughout the year, Mezipatra spreads queer films in cinemas all over the Czech Republic under the Queer Kino distribution label.
