João Nuno Pinto film leads Sophia Awards nominees
‘Mosquito’, produced by Paulo Branco and premiered in cinemas in March 2020, even before the covid-19 pandemic, is inspired by a true story of the director’s grandfather, set in Africa, in the First World War.
It is starred by the actor João Nunes Monteiro, in the role of Zacarias, the young Portuguese soldier who, in 1917, wanders around Africa in search of the platoon. The film has 13 nominations for the tenth edition of Sophia, namely in the categories of Best Director, Best Film, Best Leading Actor and Best Supporting Actor, posthumously for Filipe Duarte.
With ten nominations comes another fictional feature film inspired by real events and also produced by Paulo Branco: “Ordem Moral”, by Mário Barroso and with actress Maria de Medeiros, premiered in the theater in September. The film tells the story of Maria Adelaide Coelho da Cunha, the heir to the Diário de Notícias, who in 1918 abandoned her family to live with the driver. Discovered, she was compulsively hospitalized by her husband and considered crazy, a condition that she has always denied.
Carlos Saboga is nominated for Best Original Screenplay, pianist Mário Laginha for Best Soundtrack, Maria de Medeiros for Best Leading Actress and Albano Jerónimo for Best Supporting Actor, among other nominations. The feature film is also nominated for Best Film and Mário Barroso is doubly nominated for Best Director and Best Photography.
In addition to “Mosquito” and “Ordem Moral”, for Sophia for Best Picture, “Listen”, by Ana Rocha de Sousa, and “The year of the death of Ricardo Reis”, by João Botelho, are named.
For Best Achievement, Ana Rocha de Sousa, João Botelho, João Nuno Pinto and the Portuguese-Swiss Basil da Cunha compete with the film “The end of the world”.
In the category of Best Series or Telefilme, “A espia” and “Chronicle of good malandros” are nominated, both directed by Jorge Paixão da Costa, “Esperança”, by Pedro Varela, and “Terra Nova”, by Joaquim Leitão.
This year, the Sophia Career Award will be given to actress Maria do Céu Guerra and actor Sinde Filipe.
According to the Portuguese Academy of Cinema, this year will be awarded, for the first time, a Sophia Award for Best European Film, which will be chosen by a college of film critics and journalists.
In addition to the nominees, three other awards were also announced: The Art & Technique Award for the book “Projecting the Order: People’s Cinema and Propaganda Salazarista 1935-1954”, by Maria do Carmo Piçarra, and an honorable mention for “Cinema Tivoli – Memories of the Avenue “, by Duarte Mayer and João Rodrigues.
The Best Poster award went to Gonçalo Almeida’s film “Make me company” and Best Trailer to Sebastião Varela for the documentary “Zé Pedro Rock’n’Roll”.
The Sophia awards are an initiative of the Portuguese Cinema Academy and the ceremony is scheduled for September 19 at Casino Estoril (Cascais), with television broadcast on RTP2.
