‘Saint Omer’ Takes Top Honors At 34th Palm Springs Film Festival:

Legal docudrama Saint Omer was voted Best Picture at the 34th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, which announced this year’s juried award winners today.

Saint Omer wins for its ability “to expertly interrogate issues of society, culture, race, and gender,” the festival release stated. “Alice Diop, as screenwriter and director, delivers a film that explores different dynamics of Black women in contemporary France, drawing empathetic lead performances from Kayije Kagame and Guslagie Malanga (whose characters never interact, save for one momentous glance). By harnessing the skills of her technical team, Diop turns Saint Omer into a shrewd, cogent, ambitious, and overwhelming film which teases a metafictional awareness while remaining clear-eyed and unsentimental.”

The Palm Springs festival took place from January 5-16 and screened 134 films from 64 countries, including 27 premieres. The lineup includes 35 of the International Feature Film Oscar submissions.

The jury award categories included the FIPRESCI Prize for films in the International Feature Film Oscar submissions program; Best Documentary Award for compelling non-fiction filmmaking; New Voices New Visions Award for unique viewpoints from first- and second-time directors; Ibero-American Award for the best film from Latin America, Spain or Portugal; Local Jury Award for the film which promoted understanding and acceptance between people; Young Cineastes Award for a film chosen by our Youth Jury; and the Mozaik Bridging the Borders Award for a film that is successful in bringing the people of our world closer together.

The Audience Awards for Best Narrative Feature and Best Documentary Feature will be announced on the evening of Sunday, January 15.

At this time Palm Springs ShortFest is scheduled to return June 20-26, 2023.

See the list of all the awards by viewing this at Deadline.