‘The New Year That Never Came,’ Black Comedy About a Repressive Regime, Seizes Top Prize at Cairo Film Festival

variety.com:

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor The 45th edition of the Cairo Film Festival concluded with the top prize, the Golden Pyramid Award, going to Bogdan Mureșanu’s “The New Year That Never Came.” The black comedy, which previously won the Horizons sidebar at the Venice Film Festival, is set in 1989 during the festive season that immediately precedes the downfall of the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu.

The Special Jury Award for best director, the Silver Pyramid, went to Russian director Natalia Nazarova for “Postmarks,” which also picked up a best actor award for Maxim Stoyanov and a special mention for the female lead, Alina Khojevanova.

The other male lead award went to Lee Kang-Sheng for his performance in “Blue Sun Palace.” The International Jury led by Danis Tanović (“No Man’s Land”) also awarded the Bronze Pyramid for best debut or second feature award to Pedro Freire’s “Malu.” The Rio-set film was inspired by his mother’s life as an actress and stars Yara de Novaes in the lead role.

De Novaes also received the best actress award. Best screenplay was awarded to the Italian film “Vittoria,” a fascinating study in adoption, written by Casey Kauffman and Alessandro Cassigoli, and acted by the people who lived through the real events on which the film is based.