Menina by Cristina Pinheiro won the Best First Film Award at Göteborg IFF !

This year’s Ingmar Bergman award for best debut went to Menina by Cristina Pinheiro.

An autobiographical and irresistible story about a ten-year-old girl, growing up in a Portuguese family in southern France. Menina is modest, warm and brilliant pearl about an existence where half of the family feels at home, while the other half continuously longs for another home.

The jury’s motivation: Home is where the heart is, they say. But what if you leave your heart behind when you are forced to leave your country? What if the heart of your loved one is threatening to stop beating? The existential questions are subtle yet deep in the winning film that is pure and poetically directed and delivers only but stunning performances.

The jury consisted of Nanna Frank Rasmussen, film critic; Pernilla August, actress and director; Behtash Sanaeeha.