“Vermiglio” by Maura Delpero won a Gold Hugo, the top prize of the 60th Chicago International Film Festival, at the fest’s award presentation Friday night. Various juries voted on feature films in six categories.
“Vermiglio” is named after an Italian Alps village where the filmmaker’s father grew up. She portrays a young woman who weds a war deserter in 1944.
“All We Imagine As Light” by Payal Kapadia won the Silver Hugo in the same competitive category: International Feature Films. Like many Hugo winners this year, both works focus on resolute women.
Miguel Gomes won a Silver Hugo for best director for his film “Grand Tour,” in which an English fiancé undertakes a delirious Far East quest. Co-editors Telmo Churro and Pedro Filipe Marques earned an editing Silver Hugo.
Set in turbulent Tehran, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” won Mohammad Rasoulof a Silver Hugo for screenwriting. A mother and her two daughters take on sexist theocracy.
Mo Harawe’s “The Village Next to Paradise” scored a Gold Hugo in the New Directors Competition. Co-directors Maryam Moghaddam and Bhetash Saneeha tasted a Silver Hugo for “My Favorite Cake.”
In the LGBTQ-themed OutLook Competition, jurors saluted “Thesis on a Domestication” by Javier Van de Couter with a Gold Q-Hugo. A Silver Q-Hugo went to Darren Thornton’s “Four Mothers.”
Actors Benjamin Voisin (“The Quiet Son”) and Elín Hall (”When the Light Breaks”) received Silver Hugos for best male performance and female Performance, respectively. “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl” by Rungano Nyoni won a Special Mention for its ensemble of female performers.
The Gold Hugo in the Documentary Competition went to “Mistress Dispeller.” Subtly directed, edited and shot by Elizabeth Lo, it’s a fascinating look at Chinese women who hire counselors to deceive their cheating husbands in hopes of repairing their marriages. Farahnaz Sharifi won a Silver Hugo for “My Stolen Planet,” about Iranian women flaunting tradition through dancing and documenting persecution using their phone cameras.
Photographer Elizabeth Seed’s “A Photographic Memory” — an autobiographical archival evocation of her photographer mother — was voted the Chicago Award. For the 10th Roger Ebert Award, honoring the late Chicago Sun-Times film critic, the jury chose “Hanami” by Denise Fernandes, yet another moving drama about a young woman plumbing her past.
Saving Superman” by Adam Oppenheim and Samuel-Ali Mirpoorian earned an honorable mention in this category.
Presented by Cinema/Chicago, the festival continues through Sunday. Several addition screenings have been added:
“Vermiglio,” 10:15 a.m. Saturday at the Gene Siskel Film Center. Filmmaker is scheduled to appear.”All We Imagine as Light,” 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Gene Siskel Film Center.”Mistress Dispeller,” 7:30 p.m. Sunday, AMC Newcity.”Memoir of a Snail,” 5:45 p.m. Sunday, AMC Newcity 14.“Pavements” :15 p.m. Sunday, AMC Newcity 14.