Belgian courtroom drama “We Believe You” swept the 22nd Seville European Film Festival, taking the Golden Giraldillo for best film plus two further Official Selection prizes as the Andalusian event wrapped its Nov. 7-15 edition.
The debut feature by co-directors Charlotte Devillers and Arnaud Dufeys which bowed in the Berlinale’s new Perspectives strand – also scooped best screenplay and best actress for Myriem Akheddiou, confirming its status as one of the year’s European discoveries.
Set almost entirely inside a Belgian courthouse and anchored by a near hour-long custody hearing played in real time, the film centers on Alice, a mother fighting to protect her children from their father in a system that keeps shifting scrutiny back onto her.
Sold by The Party Film Sales
Produced by Belgium’s Makintosh Films, “We Believe You” is handled worldwide by Paris-based The Party Film Sales, which is aiming to parlay its Berlin and Seville profile into an autumn festival and awards run. In Spain, it will be co-distributed by arthouse labels Filmin and Karma Films.
The Seville jury – presided over by veteran producer and former Edinburgh Film Festival head Lynda Myles and including U.S. executive Bonnie Voland, Spanish writer-director Laura Hojman and exhibitor Nacho Martínez-Useros – hailed the film’s courage in turning a procedural custody hearing into a collective reckoning. Devillers and Dufeys’ script was also praised for building tension from minute gestures and silences while gradually exposing the weight of the trauma behind the case. Akheddiou’s performance as Alice was cited for its blend of restraint and raw emotion, with the jury singling out a turn that “clings” to the viewer and carries the film.
“We Believe You” also shared Seville’s Aamma Women in Focus Award, handed out by Spain’s association of women in the audiovisual sector, in a tie with “The Girls We Want,” French filmmaker Prïncia Car’s Marseille-set summer-camp drama, which played in Seville’s Alumbramiento sidebar after a Directors’ Fortnight premiere at Cannes.
“DJ Ahmet”: a coming-of-age dramedy
Produced by After Hours Production and sold by France’s SND, Car’s debut uses a mostly non-professional teen cast to explore desire, power and masculinity in a working-class neighborhood.
The festival’s Grand Jury Prize went to “DJ Ahmet,” the feature debut of North Macedonian director Georgi M. Unkovski.
A European co-production handled by Lyon and Berlin-based Films Boutique, the coming-of-age dramedy follows a 15-year-old boy in a conservative rural community who discovers electronic music. Seville also handed “DJ Ahmet” the best actor award for newcomer Arif Jakup, praised for a fresh, unforced performance that balances awkwardness and budding self-confidence.
Best director honors went to U.S. filmmaker Cherien Dabis, of Palestinian descent, for “All That’s Left of You,” a decades-spanning saga that she writes, directs and co-stars in. Handled internationally by The Match Factory, the film follows three generations of a Palestinian family from 1948 to 2022. The jury lauded Dabis’ “ambitious direction” and “sensitive gaze on trauma.”
On the craft side, Daniel Vidal Toche’s debut “The Anatomy of the Horses” (“La anatomía de los caballos”) – a co-production with Andalusian outfit Playa Chica – scored a double win, taking best cinematography for Angello Faccini and best production design for Juan Pablo Garay.
A time-bending exploration of revolution and a modern equivalent, the film drew plaudits for dense, poetic imagery and a ritual-inflected visual universe that links landscape, myth and memory.
Swiss hospital thriller “Late Shift,” written and directed by Petra Volpe, took the editing award for Hansjörg Weissbrich. Switzerland’s submission for the international feature Oscar, the film uses long takes and tight cutting to maintain tension while preserving a human core, according to reviews.
DJ Ahmet
“DJ Ahmet” (Courtesy of Cinema Futura)
Puerta América encouraging international feature race
In Seville’s Puerta América Award, which spotlights titles representing their countries in the international feature race, the jury opted for Joachim Trier’s Norwegian family drama “Sentimental Value.”
Winner of this year’s Cannes Grand Prix, produced by Mer Film and sold internationally by MK2 Films, the movie follows two sisters reconnecting with their estranged, once-feted filmmaker father as he attempts a late-career comeback.
Beyond Seville’s main competition, in the Embrujo sidebar (formerly Las Nuevas Olas), Franco-Egyptian filmmaker Namir Abdel Messeeh’s autofiction “Life After Siham,” which offers a film-buff journey through memory, took best film.
Meanwhile, the European Film Academy selection’s Audience Award went to French-Belgian drama “Little Amélie,” adapted from Amélie Nothomb’s childhood-in-Japan memoir “The Character of Rain.”
‘Sentimental Value’
Kasper Tuxen / Mubi
Underlining Seville’s ambitions
This year’s Giraldillos of Honor, the event’s tribute, underlined Seville’s ambition to sit at the crossroads of European film history and its present. The festival paid tribute to four heavyweights: Juliette Binoche, Costa-Gavras, Jim Sheridan and local hero Alberto Rodríguez.
Rodríguez took a front-row role at this year’s edition, receiving his Giraldillo of Honor in the opening-night gala – a tribute not just to his own career but to the generation that kick-started the so-called Nuevo Cine Andaluz. The director of “Marshland,” “Grupo 7” and “Prison 77″ framed the accolade as a “collective” award for the filmmakers who began shooting in the ‘90s on the periphery of the Spanish industry and turned Seville into a production hub.
The festival doubled down on that salute by showcasing his new thriller “Los tigres” and part of his Movistar Plus+ Original series “The Anatomy of a Moment” in Special Screenings, underlining Rodríguez’s status as the city’s most influential contemporary filmmaker and a key bridge between local talent and Spain’s national industry.
That role is shared with legacy with Rafael Cobos, Rodríguez’s long-time co-writer, now on the ground in Seville with his feature directing debut, “Golpes.” Backed by Galicia’s Vaca Films and co-produced with France’s Playtime, the 1980s-set thriller world-premiered in competition at Valladolid’s Seminci before bowing at Seville, the film walking off at Seville with the Juan Antonio Bermúdez Award for best fiction feature in Panorama Andaluz sidebar.
Seville’s Industry Edge
On the industry side, Seville built on this star momentum with a reinforced Frame Sevilla program that helped turn the event into a genuine fall market-magnet. Frame hosted more than 30 activities – roundtables, masterclasses, pitching sessions, workshops and targeted networking – pulling in a broad mix of producers, sales agents, broadcasters and streamers from across Europe.
Teaming with the European Film Promotion, Seville hosted Future Frames, giving four emerging directors a second platform after Karlovy Vary. The festival also sealed a strategic alliance with RTVE as its public broadcaster partner.
That professional footprint will extend beyond the closing night: Seville now rolls straight into the return of the European Film Academy nominations ceremony at the Real Alcázar on Nov. 18, cementing the city’s repositioning as a key European hub where red-carpet prestige, talent discovery and dealmaking happen within the same landscape.
A full list of winners at the 22th Seville European Film Festival:
OFFICIAL SELECTION
Giraldillo de Oro Award for Best Film
“We Believe You,” Charlotte Devillers, Arnaud Dufeys
Grand Jury Award
“DJ Ahmet,” Georgi M. Unkovski
Puerta América Award
“Sentimental Value,” Joachim Trier
Direction
Cherien Dabis, “All That’s Left of You”
Screenplay Charlotte Devillers, Arnaud Dufeys, “We Believe You”
Actress
Myriem Akeddiou, “We Believe You”
Actor
Arif Jakup, “DJ Ahmet”
Editing
Hansjörg Weißbrich, “Late Shift”
Cinematography
Angello Faccini, “La anatomía de los caballos”
Art Direction
Juan Pablo Garay, “La anatomía de los caballos”
OFFICIAL SELECTION SHORT FILMS
Live Action
“In Her Arms,” Roman Volosevych
Animation
“The Bird from Within,” Laura Anahory
EMBRUJO
Best Film Award
“Life After Siham,” Namir Abdel Messeeh
RAMPA
Best Film Award
“My Father’s Shadow,” Akinola Davies Jr.
ALUMBRAMIENTO
Best Film Award
“Renovation,” Gabriele Urbonaitè
PANORAMA ANDALUZ
Juan Antonio Bermúdez Best Film Award
“Golpes,” Rafael Cobos
Best Documentary Award
“Tiempo entre olivos,” Fany de la Chica
Jury Special Mention
“No sea tu falta,” Moisés Salama
Rosario Valpuesta Best Short
“Allí, lejos de aquí,” Pedro Gondi
Rosario Valpuesta Special Award for Artistic Contribution
“Las desqueridas,” Charlie García Villalba, Gonzalo Ruiz Esteban
OTHER PRIZES
ASECAN JURY
Best Screenplay for feature film (Ex aequo)
Fernando Navarro, Rafael Cobos, “Golpes”
Mauricio Angulo, Julio Muñoz, “Los pinceles de la baronesa”
Best Screenplay for short film (Ex aequo)
Pablo Cueto, “Acción, figuración”
Álvaro Amate, Jaime Tigeras, “Discordia”
AC/E Best Director of a Spanish Feature
“Els mals noms,” Marc Ortiz
AAMMA Women in Focus Award (Ex aequo)
“We Believe You,” Charlotte Devillers, Arnaud Dufeys “The Girls We Want,” Prïncia Car
Queer Ocaña Award
“Els mals noms,” Marc Ortiz
Cinéfilos del Futuro Award
“Bella,” Manuel H. Martín, Amparo Martínez Barco
Europa Júnior Award
“Falcon Express,” Benoît Daffis, Jean-Christian Tassy
UNIVERSITY OF SEVILLE EUROPEAN FICTION FILM-SCREENWRITING AWARDS
First Prize
“El infinito tiene hambre,” Alejandro Ruiz Padín
Second Prize
“Nadie quiere enterrarte,” Matías García Martín
Audience Award for Best Film in the EFA Selection
“Little Amélie,” Maïlys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han
