‘Misericordia,’ ‘They Will Be Dust,’ ‘Stranger Eyes’ Take Top Prizes at the Valladolid International Film Festival

variety.com:

Valladolid Film Festival on Saturday, in a second edition under José Luis Cienfuegos whose prizes served as a vindication of the changes he has wrought at the festival as well as an indication of some ways European arthouse is going.

All three directors’ awards build on prior upbeat reception. Playing Cannes Premiere, “Misericordia,” which scooped Valladolid’s best picture Golden Spike and its screenplay trophy, was hailed by Variety as a “darkly comic backwoods fable of pansexual desire and small-town sociopathy” which marks a “welcome re-embrace of the streamlined murdery perversities of his terrific ‘Stranger by the Lake.'” The Valladolid jury, made up of Greek director Sofia Exarchou, Spanish actress Aida Folch, critic and editor Devika Girish, German producer Ingmar Trost and Spanish director and writer Luis López Carrasco, said of the film: “Its lightness conceals a complex balance of genres and tones, beneath whose provincial thriller-comedy appearance lies a profound meditation on how desire and guilt make us predictable and incomprehensible to each other.” Silver Spikes went to Yeo Siew Hua’s “Stranger Eyes,” a Venice competition player and Golden Horse Film Festival standout, and euthanasia musical “They Will Be Dust” – which also won a mention for the performances of Alfredo Castro and Angela Molina and celebrated its Spanish premiere after winning Toronto’s prestigious Platform for directors hitting full stride in mid-career, and sparking critical acclaim. “Ángela Molina and Alfredo Castro have an unexpected bounce in their step as a couple that decides to end their lives in the formally daring drama from the director of ‘10,000KM,'” Variety said.