Laura Mora is celebrating a golden moment…
The Colombian director’s drama The Kings of the World has won the Golden Eye for best feature film at the Zurich Film Festival.
The award follows hot on the heels of the film’s triumph at the San Sebastian Film Festival exactly a week ago, where it world premiered and then won the Golden Shell for best film.
The drama follows five street kids from Medellin who set off on a dangerous trip into the Colombian hinterland, after one of them is granted the right to a piece of land taken from his family by paramilitaries, during the country’s 52-year conflict which displaced more than five million people.
The Kings of the World was produced by producer and director Cristina Gallego, whose credits include Birds of Passage and the Oscar-nominated The Embrace Of The Serpent.
The film also previously screened to professionals as part of the TIFF Industry Select line-up and heads to the Chicago Film Festival in October.
Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi headed up the Feature Film Competition jury, which also included Swiss director Petra Volpe, producer Daniel Dreifuss, Swedish producer Peter Gustafsson and U.K. director Clio Barnard.
“The movie was one of the first films we saw and it left us with unforgettable images and scenes,” read their jury statement.
“The Kings of the World is meticulously crafted and brings us close to the young protagonists who fight for freedom and dignity. The lyrical film language infuses the harsh reality with a metaphysical dimension. It’s an important and powerful story about the marginalized in society.”
