Felix Awards Make a Welcome Return

Published in 10/10/2022

Introduced in 2014, Festival do Rio will hand out the Felix Awards - awards which celebrate LGBTQIAP+- themed films throughout the event's programme for the seventh time this year. The titles, both Brazilian and international, are being viewed and evaluated by a specialist jury, presided over by the creator and organiser of the Curta Cinema Festival, Aílton Franco, that will choose the winners in the categories Best Fiction, Best Documentary, Special Jury Award and Suzy Capó Award - Personality of the Year.

The “Felix” award is taken from the Latin word ‘felix’, a synonym for ‘fortunate’, ‘joyful’, ‘satisfied’ and ‘happy’. Prior to the 2014 festival LGBTQIAP+- films had their own section, Gay World, but reflecting cultural change, the curators of the section felt the need to integrate the films in this category amongst all the many other sections of the festival, finishing with the traditional Gay Section and creating instead the Felix Award.The president of the first Felix Jury in 2014 was Wieland Speck, director of the Panorama Section of Berlin Festival and co-creator of Berlin’s Teddy Award.

Films that are up for consideration for the Felix Award in 2022 include:

ALUÍSIO, O SILÊNCIO E O MAR, by Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos

LE BLEU DU CAFTAN, by Maryam Touzani

BLUE JEAN, by Georgia Oakley

CONCERNED CITIZEN, by Idan Haguel

A COZINHA, by Johnny Massaro

CLOSE, by Lukas Dhont

CORPOLÍTICA, by Pedro Henrique França

FOGO-FÁTUO, by João Pedro Rodrigues

ICEBERG, by Will Domingos

LONESOME, by Craig Boreham

LOVING HIGHSMITH, by Eva Vitija