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French director Pierre Le Gall’s passionate love story “Flesh and Fuel,” which world premiered in Cannes’ Critics’ Week, won the top prize, the Golden Eye, at the 22nd
Zurich Film Festival on Saturday.
The Golden Eye for best documentary went to Pete Muller’s “Bucks Harbor,” which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in the Panorama section, where it won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury.
Both categories are restricted to first, second or third directorial works.
“Flesh and Fuel,” Le Gall’s feature debut, follows French long-distance truck driver Étienne. When he meets Bartosz, a fun-loving Polish truck driver, his lonely daily routine is turned upside down. What starts as a brief encounter blossoms into a romance that transcends national borders.
The film stars Alexis Manenti, who won a César for Most Promising Actor for “Les Misérables.”
The jury stated, “At a time when isolation has become a means of protecting ourselves from the world and from one another, ‘Flesh and Fuel’ offers a compelling and deeply cinematic reflection on the fundamental human need for connection. With exquisite sensitivity, the film explores how the desire to love and be loved demands that we confront and ultimately break through the physical and emotional boundaries we construct around ourselves.”
The narrative film jury was comprised of directors Cary Joji Fukunaga and Fernando Eimbcke, actress Ella Rumpf, producer Julie Billy and Walter Fasano, director, film editor and screenwriter.
Special mentions went to Mads Mengel’s “The Guest” and Zou Jing’s “A Girl Unknown.”
“Bucks Harbor” centers on Downeast Maine, a U.S. fishing village where boys “are shaped by harsh winters and strict parental rules,” according to the festival. The film offers a “glimpse into the inner lives of the villagers.”
The jury said, “Merging the world of humans and extreme nature ‘Bucks Harbor’ is a raw indepth portrait of fragile masculinity in an underprivileged community in rural North America facing climate change and the loss of livelihood. While in times of polarization people are often presented stereotypically, this film provides a much-needed counter narrative in an empathetic way. It provides a deeply human story at eye level with its protagonists, in an impressively convincing visual style.”
The documentary jury was comprised of Sine Plambech, director and anthropologist, Alfredo de Juan, cinematographer, Anne Köhncke, producer, Jela Hasler, director, and Nikolas Geyrhalter, director, cinematographer and producer.
Special mentions went to “One in a Million,” by Itab Azzam and Jack Macinnes, and “My Home of Wind and Sand,” by Patrick Wally.
The Audience Award was won by Andrina Mračnikar’s “Mila/Marija,” and the Critics Jury Award went to Heinz Bütler’s “Ebjä! Adolf Wölfli.” The Science Award was picked up by “We Are Stardust” by Elisabeth Rasmussen.
Reta Guetg, festival director, said, the winners “show just how much courage and originality there is in filmmakers presenting one of their first works.”
She also noted the presence at the festival of international directing heavyweights such as Danny Boyle, Richard Linklater, Martin McDonagh, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Jesse Eisenberg and Anton Corbijn.
“It is precisely these encounters between generations that define our festival,” she said.
During the festival, honorary awards were presented to Julianne Moore, Tom Hiddleston, Naomi Watts, John Turturro and other luminaries.
