The Prize
In her feature debut, director Paula Markovitch returns to the seaside village where thirty years ago she and her mother sought shelter from political repression. Painful childhood memories drive a story set during Argentina’s Dirty War – conducted by General Jorge Videla’s government against its own population. But The Prize says much that is universal. It is the story of a child’s confrontation with a brutal adult world, in which dissimulation is the only way to survive. It is a blunt life lesson from a tragic period in Latin American history, but it could well describe Stalinist Poland and any number of other authoritarian and repressive systems. The Prize was crowned an audience favorite at the 11th NH.
awards
Berlin IFF 2011 – Silver Berlin Bear; Havana FF 2011 – Best First Work; Jerusalem FF 2011 – In Spirit for Freedom Award; Yerevan IFF 2011 – Special Jury Prize for Best Film; New Horizons IFF 2011 – Audience Award
Paula Markovitch
Director Paula Markovitch was born in Buenos Aires in 1968, into a family with Polish roots – her grandparents had left Warsaw in the 1920s. While still a child, she felt the stamp of political repression aimed at her parents by the junta government that came to power in Argentina following a coup d’état in 1976. For the past twenty years, she has been living in Mexico, where she teaches writing for the screen. Polish audiences can currently see Duck Season and Lake Tahoe, both of which she co-wrote with Fernando Eimbcke.
Selected filmography
1999 Perriférico (short)
2006 Música de ambulancia (short)
2011 Nagroda / El premio / The Prize