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Federico Luis' Debut Film Simon of the Mountain Takes Top Honors at Cannes Critics' Week
The Cannes Film Festival has announced Cannes’ Critics Week Grand Prix, and it's the debut of a great director.
Following the continuous standing ovations and grand premieres of great cinema, the Cannes Film Festival 2024 has chosen its winners. Federico Luis, who made his feature debut in one of the most prestigious events in the world of movies, brought a tale that almost seemed impossible to imagine.
It was not just the story and the acting but a lot of other things that impressed the critics at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
Simon of the Mountains wins at Cannes 2024
Federico Luis, who debuted at the Cannes Film Festival with the movie Simon of the Mountain, didn't just bring along a tale that spoke of a 21-year-old boy and won this year's Cannes’ Critics Week Grand Prix award.
The film is an Argentina-Chile-Uruguay production and stars Lorenzo “Toto” Ferro as its lead. Simon of the Mountain, sold by Luxbox, speaks of a character named Simon, a lonely kid who becomes a part of a group of disabled kids.
However, the strong friendship between Simon and his friends helps the lead discover love, s*x, and a feeling of belonging.
While accepting the award, the director stated, “I am thinking not only about what it means to us but also about what it means to the people in Argentina,” calling them the people who “will struggle” to make local films “over the course of the next four years.”
He went on to express that back at his home, people think that “we make films no one wants to see,” adding that this win would change the perspective of “Argentinian people—and then the whole world—will watch Argentinian cinema.”
Similarly, when the jury president, Sylvia Pialat, was announcing the award, she was in tears, as she stated, “We never stopped talking about it. This is a generous film.”
Pialat called it a movie that “respects each character and viewers,” while also being a movie that is “an overwhelming, cinematic event.”
She stated that this award is not just for the director but also for “the cast, to the brilliant lead actor and the most beautiful kissing scene in the history of cinema.”
Other awards at Cannes 2024
While Simon of the Mountian went on to win the Cannes’ Critics Week Grand Prix award, Blue Sun Palace won the French Touch Prize of the Jury. The aforementioned film is a migrant drama by Constance Tsang.
Similarly, the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award was given to an LGBTQ movie called Baby, by Ricardo Teodoro. While accepting the award, Teodoro, who couldn't hold back his tears, stated, “My dream was to have a film at Cannes. I am so happy to be here.”
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