HANAMI
a film by Denise Fernandes, 95', 2024, DCP, colour
with Sanaya Andrade, Alice Da Luz, Dailma Mendes, Nha Nha Rodrigues, João Galinha, Yuta Nakano
On a remote volcanic island from which everyone wants to leave, Nana learns to stay.
Her mother Nia, who suffers from a mysterious illness, left shortly after her birth.
When Nana comes down with a high fever, she is sent to the foot of a volcano for treatment. There, she encounters a world suspended between dreams and reality. Years later, when Nana is a teenager, Nia returns.
PRIZES
Locarno Film Festival 2024 - Cineasti del Presente (Switzerland) - Best Emerging Director Award, First Feature Awards – Special Mention
Vancouver International Film Festival 2024 - Vanguard (Canada)- Mention spéciale
Chicago International Film Festival - New Directors Competition (USA) ROGER EBERT AWARD
Französischen Filmtage Tübingen | Stuttgart - Internationaler Wettbewerb (Germany) GRAND PRIX du long métrage
Mostra São Paulo (Brazil) - New Directors PRIX DU JURY and Brada Prize for Best Art Direction
Festival des 3 Continents (France) - International Competition MONTGOLFIERE D'OR
Carthage Film Festival (Tunisia) - Prix 1ère œuvre Tahar Cheria long-métrage de fiction TV5 Monde
FESPACO (Burkina Faso) - Best Photography for Alana Mejía Gonzalez
FESTIVALS
BFI London Film Festival 2024 - First Feature Competition (UK)
Film Fest Gent - Official Selection - in competition (Belgium)
S16 Film Festival, Lagos - Closing Film (Nigeria)
Pianeta Mare Film Festival - Film in concorso Lungometraggi (Italy)
AFI Fest - Discovery (USA)
Kerala International Film Festival (India)
Sevilla Film Festival (Spain) - Competición Rampa
Ljubljana International Film Festival (Slovenia) - Panorama
Red Sea International Film Festival, Arabie Saoudite
Istanbul Museum of Modern Art (Turkey)
Sydney Film Festival (Australia)
Uruguay IFF
Palm Spring International Film Festival (USA)
Solothurner Filmtage (Switzerland) - Panorama Langfilm
Kitale Film Week (Kenya) - Official Selection
TIFF Transilvania International Film Festival (Romania) - Smart 7
Festival Cine Global (Santo Domingo)
Africa Alive Festival - DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum (Germany)
Festival Music & Cinema Marseille (France)
Luxembourg City Film Festival (Luxembourg) - Official Competition
Vilnius International Film Festival (Lithuania) - Smart 7
Festival Reflets du Cinema ibérique et latino américain (France)
Contrechamps Film Festival (Belgium)
BlackStar Film Festival (USA)
New African Film Festival (USA) - AFI Silver
Caligari Autores (Argentina)
Filmadrid (Spain)
Bolzano Film Festival (Italy) - Competition
FICCI Cartagena de Indias (Colombia) - Competición Internacional
Cinemateca Bogotá (Colombia)
Tarifa African Film Festival (Spain)
Afrika Filmfestival Leuven (Belgium)
"L.A. Rebellion: Then and Now" Retrospective at Lincoln Center (USA)
Reykjavik FF (Iceland) - Smart 7
New York African Film Festival (USA) - NYAFF at BAM
Seattle International Film Festival (USA) - Ibero-American Cinema
Cinémas et Cultures d’Afrique (France)
Ifriqiya Cinema (UK)
New Horizons IFF (Poland)
Calgary Black Film Festival (Canada)
Dakhla Film Festival (Marocco)
Pune IFF (India)
International Film Festival Innsbruck (Austria)
Ciné-Rencontres de Prades Festival (France)
FICMEC - Festival Internacional de Cine Medioambiental de Canarias (Spain)
Vendaval - Mostra de Cinema Portugués da Ribeira Sacra (Spain)
International Images Film Festival for Women (IIFF), (Zimbawbe)
Art Studio Hoogvliet Rotterdam (Netherlands)
Zlin Film Festival - International Film Festival for Children and Youth (Czech Republic)
Helsinki International Film Festival - Love & Anarchy (Finland)
Afrika Film Festival Köln (Germany)
Fünf Seen Filmfestival (Germany)
Festival Isulimondi (Corsica)
Cinemateca Madrid (Spain)
African Film Festival Munich (Germany)
PROVINZIALE - Filmfest Eberswalde (Germany)
Brussels International Women Film Festival (Belgium)
Jali Film Weekender Edinburgh (UK)
Afrikamera Berlin (Germany)
Thessaloniki IFF (Greece) - Smart 7
AFRIKALDIA - African film festival of the Basque Country (Spain)
Portuguese Cinema Days in Berlin (Germany)
Creative Africa Lab Rhode Island (US)
Festival Visions d’Afrique (France)
Melbourne Film Festival (Australia)
Days of Indigenous Film in Rostock (Germany)
Festival Îliennes (France)
Shanghai IFF (China)
DIRECTOR
Denise Fernandes was born in Lisbon in 1990 to Cape Verdean parents and grew up in Ticino. In 2011 she graduated in film direction and production from the International Conservatory of Audiovisual Sciences in Lugano (CISA). That same year, her short film Una Notte premiered at the 64th Locarno Film Festival.
From 2011 to 2013, he studied directing at the International School of Cinema and Television (EICTV) in Cuba, where he directed the short films Pan Sin Mermelada, selected for the Upcoming Talent at the Solothurn Film Festival, and Idyllium, which won an award at the Winterthur International Film Festival.
In 2020, she directed the short film Nha Mila , which was shown at Locarno, Vila do conde, Uppsala, Zinebi, Black Night Tallin, Tampere, New York film festival, etc.
CREW
Direction: Denise Fernandes
Script Denise Fernandes, Telmo Churro
DOP: Alana Mejía Gonzalez
Production manager: Joana Carneiro
Location manager: Vasco Viola
Soound: Henri Maïkoff
Production designer: Mathé
1st direction assistant: Ângela Sequeira
Artistical adviser: Inês Garcia Marques
Costumes: Silvia Grabowski
Hair and Make-up: Cristina Fischer
Gaffer: Elias Fernandez
Editor: Selin Dettwiler
Original score: Rahel Zimmermann
Sound edit and mix: Etienne Curchod
Colorgrading: Robin Erard
VFX: Giuseppe Di Francisca, Studio Le Truc
PRESSE
Les Cahiers du cinéma -Vincent Malausa
Expresso das Ilhas - Dulcina Mendes
Film bulletin - Yurena Rubido Chaves
Film explorer - Maria Di Salvatore
The film verdict - Oris Aigbokhavevbolo
Cine Bulletin - Silvia Posavec
PRODUCTION
Production: Alina film (Suisse), O Som e a Fúria (Portugal)
Coproduction: RSI – Radiotelevisione svizzera
ventura film (Switzerland)
Producers: Eugenia Mumenthaler, David Epiney, Luis Urbano, Sandro Aguilar
Co-producers: Elda Guidinetti, Alessandro Marcionni
With the support of Eurimages, the Federal Office of Culture (FOC)), l'Instituto do cinema e do Audiovisual (ICA), Cinéforom, Loterie Romande, of RTP - Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, Suissimage, TI/RSI/SSA Grant, and the development support of Media Desk Suisse.
SELECTED TO OXBELLY RESIDENCE 2020, to Upcoming Lab Journées de Soleure, 2016
INDIELISBOA Lisbon Screenings, ECAM Forum
DISTRIBUTION
International Sales: Morethan films
Distribution Switzerland: Cineworx
Distribution Portugal: Desforra Apache
Distribution Brasil: Imovision
Distribution Sweden: Draken Film
Distribution Germany: Jip film & Verleih