“Anselm” directed by Wim Wenders was awarded the Documentary Competition Prize
Cinelibri Best Book-to-Film Adaptation Award 2023 in the Feature Film Competition was bestowed on Isabel Coixet’s extraordinary romance drama “Un Amor” (“One Love”). The film is based on the best-selling novel by Sara Mesa, selected by influential Spanish newspaper “El PaÍs” as Spain’s 2020 Book of the Year and translated into 13 languages internationally.
The International Jury of Cinelibri competition for a full-length feature film based on work of literature this year was represented by: William Baldwin (actor, producer, writer), Léa Todorov (director and screenwriter), Bruno Rosato (casting director and producer), Carla Nieto (actress), Ivan Burnev (actor). Presided by Baldwin, the Jury stated the reasons for the decision as follows:
“One Love” is an intimate and singular film, innovative in terms of storytelling, the atmosphere of which captures you powerfully. Director explores the dark sides of an obsessive passion – irrational and rather vague, at the same time recreated extremely truthfully and convincingly. The film focuses on a disturbing angle of the subject of emotional self-discovery and self-expression in unusual circumstances and offers an interesting example of “translation” of a book into the language of cinema. The raw majesty of the scenery, the magnetic performances, the moving characters and the all-consuming contrast between primal strength and desperate vulnerability contribute to its impact.”
The 2023 Goya actress winner Laia Costa (“Lullaby”) stars opposite Hovik Keuchkerian (“Money Heist”) in this captivating tale of obsessive passion that forces the film’s protagonist to reconsider the woman she thought she was. Taking refuge in La Escapa, a hamlet, isolated by the hostility of her landlord and villagers’ distrust, she surprises herself by accepting an unsettling sexual proposal from neighbor Andreas. “From this strange and conflicting encounter sparks a devouring passion that will consume Nat fully, forcing her to question the woman she thought she was. “Un Amor” is a moving account of existential doubt and the transformative power of carnal desire, exploring the subversive nature of gender roles, according to Film Constellation.
“The moment I read the novel, I felt an overwhelming need to put the story on film,” Coixet has said. She added: “It dares us to rethink our perception of love and all its synonyms: Passion, despair, unease, fear and redemption, and drove me to ask myself: Is seduction an innocent weapon? When does this weapon turn on the one who wields it? Nat’s journey is intimate, raw and provocative…and there’s nothing I like more than a challenge!”
The Jury distinguished Isabel Coixet’s work in a powerful competition with another nine book-to-film adaptations: Copenhagen Does Not Exist (2023) directed by Martin Skovbjerg; The Taste of Things (2023) directed by Anh Hung Tran; The Rise and Fall of Comrade Zylо (2023) directed by Fatmir Koçi; Operation Napoleon (2023) directed by Óskar Thór Axelsson; Just the two of us directed by Valérie Donzelli; The Beautiful Summer (2023) directed by Laura Luchetti; Comandante (2023) directed by Edoardo De Angelis; Lubo (2023) directed by Giorgio Diritti; Plague (2023) directed by Ivan Vladimirov.
Within the Cinelibri Documentary Competition 2023, the prize was awarded to the film “Anselm” directed by Wim Wenders. An awe-inspiring and breathtaking portrait of one of the most outstanding and original contemporary German artists and sculptors – Anselm Kiefer.
The award ceremony took place on October 20 in Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture in Sofia in the presence of all Jury members.