“Sami Blood” drama wins grand jury prize at Seattle Film Fest

PanARMENIAN.Net - The 2017 Seattle International Film Festival announced its audience award recipients and official competition winners on Sunday, June 11. Films “At the End of the Tunnel” and “Sami Blood (Sameblod)” and documentaries “Dolores” and “Becoming Who I Was” were the standouts from the Washington-based competition, Variety said.

Over 82,000 ballots were cast at SIFF this year for the five official categories and six audience awards.

Amanda Kernell’s coming-of-age drama “Sami Blood (Sameblod)” from Sweden, Norway, and Demark was named the grand jury prize winner for the official competition. The jury chose the film as its main festival winner “for its beautifully nuanced and spare portrayal of the struggle to discover who you are, both because of and in spite of where you are from.” They also praised the inclusion of the Scandinavian setting’s rarely seen culture.

Chang-Yong Moon and Jin Jeon’s “Becoming Who I Was” from South Korea was selected as the best documentary by festival voters. “We admired the filmmakers’ skill and commitment to capturing the relationship between the two subjects,” explained the jury.

“At the End of the Tunnel” by Rodrigo Grande was named best film by the audience, while “Dolores” from Peter Bratt was deemed best doc. As Variety previously reported, Anjelica Huston was presented the career achievement in acting award.