The Riverbank has won Best Fiction Feature Film at this year’s Rio Film Festival, while Elza took home Best Documentary Feature Film. Directed by Enock Carvalho and Matheus Farias, The Riverbank arrived in Rio following its win at Locarno. The awards were presented at a ceremony at Rio de Janeiro’s historic Odeon cinema, where several other major Brazilian films also received top honours.
Set in Recife, The Riverbank follows Izaquiel, a young cleaner played by Caique Copque, whose nightly search for intimacy leads him to Jeremias, a magnetic fisherman portrayed by Ítalo Martins. As violence closes in, the two men journey into the depths of the mangroves, where reality and myth intertwine, exposing the invisible structures of power that govern their world.
The film marks the feature directorial debut of Carvalho and Farias. The win comes a few months after Farias received a Platino Award for editing Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Oscar-nominated film The Secret Agent.
The Riverbank also collected several awards beyond the festival’s top fiction prize. Renna Costa, Artia and Ísis Broken shared the award for Best Supporting Actress, while Luciana Baseggio won Best Cinematography. Moabe Filho, Guma Farias, Daniel Turini and João Victor Coura received the award for Best Sound Design. The film also won the Felix Award for Best Brazilian Film, a prize recognising LGBTQIA+-themed cinema.
Eryk Rocha’s Elza won Best Documentary Feature Film. Following The Falling Sky, which premiered to acclaim at Directors’ Fortnight, Rocha’s documentary focuses on Elza Soares, one of Brazil’s most renowned singers and public figures. Drawing on rare archival material and intimate conversations between Soares and the director during the final years of her life, the film traces her seven-decade career and explores the many dimensions of the woman behind the legend. The project is backed by Aruac Filmes, Maria Farinha Filmes, Globo Filmes, RAI Cinema and Gullane+.
Gabriel Martins’ On Behalf of My Son, which was selected for Toronto, won Best Director in Fiction, Best Screenplay and the Fiction Feature Audience Award. Victor di Marco and Márcio Picoli’s London, selected for Venice, earned Di Marco the Best Actor award. The film also won Best Costume Design for Samy Sill and the FIPRESCI Award for Best Brazilian Film.
Ricardo Alves Jr.’s The French Teacher, which premiered at San Sebastián, won Best Supporting Actor for Pedro Goifman and Best Original Score for Florencia Di Concilio. Grace Passô shared the Best Actress award for her performance in the film with Isabel Teixeira, recognised for Diário do Fogo.
Other winners in the Premiére Brasil section included Camila Valença, who won Best Documentary Director for Cão Sem Plumas, and Maria Luísa Alves, whose Santo won Best Short Film. Ana Paula Cardoso received Best Art Direction for Funk.
The award for Best Editing was shared by Cristina Amaral, Fabio Meira and Juliano Castro for A Extraordinária Vida de Vera Valdez, and Cristiane Oliveira and Tula Anagnostopoulos for Foi Ali Guardar o Coração na Geladeira. The Jury Award went to O Filho da Puta, directed by Erica Maradona, Tania Anaya, Otto Guerra and Sávio Leite. Anna Azevedo’s Fui Olhar Você Dormir received the Documentary Audience Award.
In the New Trends section, Ulisses Arthur’s Não Estamos Sonhando won Best Feature, while Pedro Leão received Best Actor for the film. Thais Fujinaga won Best Director for Talismã, and Nina Prado was named Best Actress for O Deserto de Luiza, which also received the Audience Award for Best Feature. Caio J. Bonfim’s Ondas de Silêncio won Best Short Film, while Um Domingo, directed by Maíra Bühler and Rô Albuquerque, received the Special Jury Award.
Beyond The Riverbank, the Felix Awards recognised several other films. Leyla Bouzid’s À voix basse won Best International Film, while Jake Witzenfeld’s Father, Father received Best Documentary. Morfeu e Caronte, by Jocimar Dias Jr. and Luiz Ulian, won the Special Jury Award, and Abinash Bikram Shah’s Elephants in the Fog received an honourable mention.
The festival also presented awards recognising other areas of the film industry. TV Globo’s Acquisition Award went to Maria Vitória, directed by Mário Patrocínio, while Telecine’s award went to Six Months in the Pink and Blue Building, directed by Bruno Santamaría Razo. The Foreign Correspondents Association Award was presented to Let Us Be, directed by Viviane D’Avilla, with an honourable mention for João Paulo Cuenca’s 144 – Apocalipse Não. Six Months in the Pink and Blue Building also won the FIPRESCI Award for Best Latin American Film.
The Premiére Brasil jury was presided over by Esther García, the veteran producer of La Bola Negra. Its members included Jacqueline Lyanga, co-director of programming at the Berlinale; French producer Sophie Erbs; composer Flavia Tygel; and casting director Marcela Altberg.
Karen Harley chaired the New Trends jury, which also included Maira Oliveira, Dora Amorim and Guto Parente. The Felix jury was presided over by lawyer Ericka Gavinho and included Clara Anastacia, Guilherme Terri, also known as Rita Von Hunty, Vita and Rodrigo Gerace.
