If you are trying to catch up on what has happened during the 2008 Festival do Rio you can find the daily news from the festival archived in the Festival Diary to the left. There is also a good selection of photos at Festival Photos as a reminder and “lembrança” of the festival and its activities.

Festival do Rio 2008: And the Winners Are… The Class of 2008

On Thursday night the festival will announce the winners of the competitive sections of the festival at the awards’ ceremony at 21.00 at the Odeon Petrobras, the historic theatre that has hosted the majority of the competitive screenings.

Eight fiction features, ten documentaries and 15 shorts are up for the jury’s consideration in Première Brasil. The jury is composed of Brazilian actress Camila Pitanga, Chilean born / Brazilian based director and writer Jorge Duran, Argentine producer Lita Stantie, and German director and actor Wieland Speck, who since 1992 has been in charge of programming the Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival, to decide to which films, directors and actors the festival’s official prizes are awarded.

On Thursday night we will also discover what the festival going public honours as best feature film, best documentary and best short from Première Brasil. The FIPRESCI jury will award its prize to the best Latin American film at the festival.

The features to screen in competition at Festival do Rio and make up the class of 2008 were:

Première Brasil: Fiction

• Apenas O Fim (That’s It) - Matheus Souza
• Feliz Natal (December) - Selton Mello
• A Festa da Menina Morta (The Dead Girl's Feast) - Matheus Nachtergaele
• Juventude (Youth) - Domingos Olivera
• Rinha (La Riña) - Marcelo Galvão
• Se Nada Mais Der Certo (Should Nothing Else Work Out) - José Eduardo Belmonte
• Verônica (Veronica) - Maurício Farias
• Vingança (Retribution) - Paulo Pons

Première Brasil: Documentaries

• Cantoras do Radio (Radio Singers) - Gil Baroni and Marcos Avellar
• Cinderelas, Lobos e um Príncipe Encantado (Cinderellas, Wolves and Prince Charming) - Joel Zito Araújo
• Contratempo (Contretemps) - Malu Mader & Mini Kerti
• Estrada Real da Cachaça (Royal Road of Cachaça) - Pedro Urano
• Jards Macalé - Um Morcego na Porta Principal (Jards) - Marco Abujamra
• Loki – Arnaldo Baptista - Paulo Henrique Fontenelle
• Morrinho - Deus sabe tudo mas não é X9 /(Morrinho - God Knows Everything But Is Not a Delator) - Fabio Gavião & Markão Oliveira
• Palavra (en)cantada (The Enchanted Word) - Helena Solberg
• Sentidos à flor da pele (Skin Feelings) – Evaldo Mocarzel
• Titãs - A vida até parece uma festa (Titãs - Life is Like a Party) - Branco Mello & Oscar Rodrigues Alves.

UK Focus Takes Its Final Bow

The UK bows out as the festival’s country in focus for 2008 with the final screenings Thursday of a number of important and critically acclaimed films. Mark Herman’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas also screens at Estação Vivo Gavea at 15.30 and 19.50. Julian Cole’s documentary With Gilbert & George screens at Estação Barra Point at 20.00. Thomas Clay’s Soi Cowboy also screens at Estação Barra Point at 22.00. The Derek Jarman retrospective, a key element of Focus UK, closes with a screening Thursday of Wittgenstein at Palacio 2 at 22.00. Antenna UK Airplay is screening at Oi Futuro at 13.30, 15.00, 16.30, 18.00 and 19.30.

Festival Short Cuts…

• Thursday is the final chance to see the Coen brothers’ Burn After Reading, a film that has been one of the festival’s hot tickets. The last screenings takes place at Espaço de Cinema 1 at 12.15 and 23.59.
  
  
• Thusday is also the last opportunity to see Annegriet Wietsma’s acclaimed documentary, Sozdar, She Who Lives Her Promise at Estação Barra Point at 22.30.