Laura Carreira wins best director award at San Sebastian festival
In her feature debut, Laura Carreira crafts an intimate and unwavering portrait of an isolated Portuguese migrant and her relationship to the precarious labour that constrains and defines her.
What?
Portuguese filmmaker Laura Carreira was awarded the Silver Shell for Best Director at the 72nd San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain for her debut feature ‘On Falling’, ex-aequo with Pedro Martín-Calero for ‘El llanto’.
The central figure of the movie is Aurora, a young Portuguese migrant in Scotland, who works in a warehouse and finds it difficult to make ends meet on a monthly basis and to socialise in a house shared with other immigrants.
Starring actress Joana Santos, ‘On Falling’ had its world premiere this month at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada and was part of the official competition in San Sebastian.
Her debut feature film On Falling is set to have its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival 2024 and its European premiere at San Sebastián Film Festival in Main Competition where it will compete for the Golden Shell.
On Falling was produced by Sixteen Films and BRO Cinema - with the support of the BFI, BBC Films, Screen Scotland, ICA and Goodfellas.
‘On Falling’ also received an honourable mention in the “Otra Mirada” prize, awarded by RTVE. The ‘Otra Mirada’ award consists of the acquisition of television broadcasting rights.
The Golden Shell for best film went to the Spaniard Albert Serra, for his documentary ‘Tardes de soledad’.
Who?
Laura Carreira, was born in 1994, in Porto and is now based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Before that, she completed a course in audiovisual communication at the Escola Artística António Arroio in Lisbon.
Her first short film Red Hill won the New Visions Award at the 73rd Edinburgh International Film Festival and was nominated for the Best Short Film award at the 2019 BAFTA Scotland Awards.
Her short film The Shift premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in 2020 and was nominated for the European Film Awards and the London Critics' Circle Film Awards.
In 2021 it won the New Talent Award at IndieLisboa.
In 2022, Laura was named one of the Rising Stars Scotland by Screen International magazine.
Her second feature film is under development with Film4.