Alain Gomis' 'Dao' Wins Golden Spike at 71st Valladolid Seminci

Alain Gomis' "Dao," a three-hour family saga unfolding between a wedding in France and an ancestral memorial ceremony in Guinea-Bissau, won the Golden Spike for best film at the 71st Valladolid International Film Festival (Seminci), which announced its winners Saturday morning without its traditional closing gala.

Festival organizers canceled the gala after a deadly train accident in Toledo province. The ceremony's absence did not diminish the verdict: the international jury praised the French-Senegalese director's "distinctive cinematic form," citing the film's use of rhythm, duration and movement to build what it called an intimate yet immersive atmosphere.

"Dao" world premiered in competition at Berlin and marks Gomis' return to fiction features after "Félicité," which won the Berlinale Grand Jury Prize in 2017. Variety's Guy Lodge called the new work the director's "most vibrantly expansive and accessible" film. The Party Film Sales handles international sales; Janus Films holds North American rights.

Who else won in the official competition?

Marine Atlan's debut "La Gradiva" took the Silver Spike. The French-Italian feature, set during a school trip to Naples and Pompeii, follows teenagers navigating desire, insecurity and what the source calls the last moments of adolescence. It premiered at Cannes' Critics' Week, where it won the top Grand Prix, then took Melbourne's Bright Horizons Award in August.

At Valladolid, "La Gradiva" collected three prizes in total: the Silver Spike, the José Salcedo editing award for Guillaume Lillo and the Rainbow Spike for LGBTQ-related cinema. Variety critic Jessica Kiang called it "seismically sensitive and deeply moving" and "one of the most piercingly accurate and immersive portrayals ever" of that age. MK2 Films represents international sales.

The remaining official competition prizes:

• Ribera del Duero best director: Lisandro Alonso for "Double Freedom," a sequel to his 2001 debut "Freedom," sold by Luxbox
• Best actress: Alba Rohrwacher for Stéphane Brizé's "A Good Little Soldier," playing a corporate executive inside a system of profit at any cost
• Best actor: Swann Arlaud for Emmanuel Marre's "A Man of His Time," about a French engineer drawn into the Vichy regime
• Cinematography: Olivier Boonjing for the same film
• Screenplay (Miguel Delibes award): Sandra Wollner for "Everytime," a drama about grief and memory through digital technology
• Special mention: Tiago Guedes' "Aquí"

What does the Spanish breakout mean for local cinema?

Claudia Estrada Tarascó's debut "Salen las lobas" doubled up as the audience favorite, winning both the Meeting Point Audience Award and the Seminci Youth Prize. The film follows girls in a juvenile justice facility who bond over music and dreams of a Barcelona trap competition. Alba Sotorra's Oceanika produced it; MoreThan Films handles international sales; Silencio Cinema will release it theatrically in Spain on Dec. 11.

Other sections produced their own winners. Sompot Chidgasornpongse, a longtime collaborator of Apichatpong Weerasethakul, took the Meeting Point prize for "9 Temples to Heaven," a contemplative pilgrimage drama that premiered in Cannes' Directors' Fortnight. Marc Ferrer's "Cinemanía" won the Fundos Award and Manon Coubia the ESCAC directing prize for "Forest High."

In the Alchemies section, Ivan Marković's "Promised Spaces," a portrait of Cambodia's rapidly transformed urban landscape, won the Grand Prize; David Baute's "Benigno," about an elderly man preserving a disappearing way of life in the Canary Islands, received a special mention and the environmental Green Spike.

Hassen Ferhani's Algeria-France production "Alea Jacarandas" took the Time of History Grand Prize, with a special award to Mariano Llinás' "Life of Jorge Luis Borges." Isabelle Stever's "I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming" won the FIPRESCI critics' prize. Markus Schleinzer's "Rose" took the main competition Audience Award.

Short-film honors went to Arnas Balčiūnas' "Class Photo" (Golden Spike), Blanca Camell Galí's "First Fire" and Natalia Marín's "Chronicle of Tiredness" (Silver Spikes), with further prizes to Wannes Vanspauwen and Pol De Plecker's "Pithead," Mariona Martínez' "L'enterrament de la sardina" and Juan Carlos Mostaza's "Under the Lake." Youth juries cited Lance Hammer's "Queen at Sea," Jacqueline Lentzou's "A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra" and Francisco Visceral Rivera's "El tamagochi escarlata."

The 71st edition, held Oct. 23-31, was led by interim co-directors Mariona Viader and Javier H. Estrada following the death of longtime director José Luis Cienfuegos last December. Organizers reported a provisional audience of 100,000, more than 120 film discussions and attendance by over 90% of the directors in the official sections. The festival closed with the Spanish premiere of Gael García Bernal's "Hombre al agua" — a tally that, if confirmed, positions Seminci's transition year as one of continuity rather than decline.