Thessaloniki Festival: l’Alexandre d’or for the Costa Rican film "Tengo sueños eléctricos"

Tengo sueños eléctricos, by Costa Rican director Valentina Maurel, won the l’Alexandre d’or on Sunday (November 13) at the 63rd edition of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival in Greece. This prize, endowed with 10,000 euros, rewards "the beautiful and tender portrait of how to love the faults of a loved one," explains the jury of the festival. The jury also named as best actor the Costa Rican protagonist of this film, Reinaldo Amien Gutiérrez. The film is a co-production between Belgium, Costa Rica and France (Geko Films).

The special jury prize, the Alexandre d'Argent (€5,000), was awarded to Swiss director Michael Koch for his feature film Sur la terre comme au ciel, in which he illustrates the love of a couple put to the test in a village in the Swiss Alps. Japanese director Chie Hayakawa received the l’Alexandre de bronze (€3,000) for her film Plan 75, which tackles the issues of loneliness and aging in Japan in the near future.

The Thessaloniki Festival, which opened its doors on November 3, was dedicated this year to "the representation of women" in the seventh art, according to its director, the Frenchwoman Elise Jalladeau, at the head of this institution for six years. Eleven films took part in the international competition while around 200 were screened during a total of four competitions, retrospectives and tributes.