2022 Palm Springs Film Festival Winners List: ‘Prayers For The Stolen’ Tops

Mexico’s Oscar-shortlisted Prayers For the Stolen directed by Tatiana Huezo won the FIPRESCI Prize for Best International Feature Film at the Palm Springs Film Festival, which revealed its juried winners Wednesday despite being forced to cancel its 2022 edition.

The festival, which had been scheduled to run January 6-17 before being scrapped amid the latest Covid surge, is considered a must-stop for International Feature Oscar contenders, with 36 of the 93 official submissions this year slated for the lineup.

The FIPRESCI jury also awarded Asghar Farhadi’s Iranian Oscar hopeful A Hero two prizes, for Farhadi’s screenplay and best actor for Amir Jadidi. It won three prizes overall, also taking a MOZAIK Bridging the Borders Award.

Agathe Roussell, the star of France’s Palme d’Or winner Titane, was named best actress by FIPRESCI jurors.

Huezo’s Prayers for the Stolen, which was released by Netflix in theaters and on the streaming platform in November, centers on three three young girls jn a mountain town who take over the houses of those who have fled, dress up as women when no one is watching, and have a hiding place as their mothers train them to flee from those who turn them into slaves or ghosts. Until one day, when one of the girls doesn’t make it to her hideout in time.

The jury awarded it the top prize “for a miraculously vivid portrayal of girlhood under siege told with visual exuberance and powerful intimacy from the ensemble cast.” The pic also took the festival’s top prize in its Ibero-American sidebar devoted to the best films from Latin America, Spain or Portugal.

Other honors bestowed today include Denmark’s Flee from Jonas Poher Rasmussen taking Best Documentary, Audrey Diwan’s Happening (France) winning the New Voices New Visions award, and South Korea’s Escape From Mogadishu winning the Local Jury Award.

Here’s the full list of winners:

FIPRESCI Prize: Best International Feature Film

Prayers For the Stolen (Mexico)
Directed by Tatiana Huezo

FIPRESCI Prize: Best Actor in an International Feature Film

Amir Jadidi
A Hero (Iran)

FIPRESCI Prize: Best Actress in an International Feature Film

Agathe Rousselle
Titane (France/Belgium)

FIPRESCI Prize: International Screenplay

A Hero (Iran)
Screenplay by Asghar Farhadi

Best Documentary Award

Flee (Denmark)
Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen

Special Mention
The Caviar Connection (France)
Directed by Benoît Bringer