Sanfic Awards: Michal Vinik’s ‘Valeria is Getting Married,’ Kattia Zuniga’s ‘Sister & Sister’ Take Top Prizes
variety.comAnna Marie de la Fuente Sisterly love ruled at Chile’s 19th Santiago International Film Festival (Sanfic), which wrapped on Aug.
27 where female directors and actors clinched the top prizes. Israeli-Ukrainian drama “Valeria is Getting Married” by Michal Vinik and Kattia Zuñiga’s “Sister & Sister” snagged the preeminent Chilean festival’s best film plaudits, adding to their trove of accolades since their respective world premieres.
Aside from best international film, Vinik also took home the best director gong in Sanfic’s international competition. Picked up by Berlin-based M-Appeal before its Venice world premiere last year, the taut family drama revolves around two Ukrainian sisters: one is content in her married life in Israel and wants her younger sister, the titular Valeria, to marry, too.
She and her husband arrange for Valeria to marry but the younger sister struggles to accept the pact. “Israeli cinema has been very interesting of late,” noted Sanfic fest director Carlos Nuñez who praised Vinik’s “interesting mise-en-scene, clear points of view and adept work with her actors.” Panamanian-Chilean co-production “Sister & Sister” (“Las Hijas”) is an autobiographical coming-of-age tale that world premiered at SXSW before winning best Latin American Fflm at Spain’s Malaga Festival in March.
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