‘The Two Popes’ Wins Gigi Guermont Audience Award at 2019 Gems Film Festival
Miami Dade College’s (MDC) Miami Film Festival (MFF) announced today that Fernando Meirelles’ The Two Popes is the winner of the MIAMI GEMS 2019 Gigi Guermont Audience Award, as MFF’s annual fall extension wrapped on Sunday night with record box office and with attendance at 98% capacity across the entire event.
Last year’s MIAMI GEMS Audience Award winner, Nadine Labaki’s Capernaum, went on to receive an Academy Award nomination in the recently re-named Best International Feature Film category.
Inspired by a true story, The Two Popes is riveting character drama which sees Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce in a verbal battle of wits over the future direction of the Catholic Church. The film is produced by Netflix.
While Pope Benedict XVI (Hopkins) contemplates breaking with tradition by retire from the papacy, he invites Argentine Cardinal Bergoglio (Pryce) – who will become the future Pope Francis – to Rome for a meeting. Bergoglio is a progressive, forward-thinking leader, one who feels strongly that the Church should listen to its followers instead of blindly adhering to the ways of old. It’s an outlook that leads to a fierce debate between the two men – a debate on sticking to tradition vs growing with the times, and about what it means to pave a religious path for more than a billion followers around the world.
Fernando Meirelles is a producer and director from Sao Paulo, Brazil. He is best known for having directed the Oscar-nominated films City of God (02) and The Constant Gardener (05).
Festival audiences chose Bong Joon-ho’s PARASITE (Neon) as first runner-up, with Alma Har’el’s HONEY BOY (Amazon) and Craig Brewer’s DOLEMITE IS MY NAME (Netflix) tied for second runner-up.
# # #
About Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival
Celebrating cinema in two annual events, Miami Film Festival GEMS, October 10-13, 2019 and its 37th annual edition March 6 – 15, 2020, Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival is considered the preeminent film festival for showcasing Ibero-American cinema in the U.S., and a major launch pad for all international and documentary cinema. The annual Festival more than 60,000 audience members and more than 400 filmmakers, producers, talent and industry professionals. It is the only major festival housed within a college or university. In the last five years, the Festival has screened films from more than 60 countries, including 300 World, International, North American, U.S. and East Coast Premieres. Miami Film Festival’s special focus on Ibero-American cinema has made the Festival a natural gateway for the discovery of new talent from this diverse territory. The Festival also offers unparalleled educational opportunities to film students and the community at large. Major sponsors of the 2019-20 Festival season include Knight Foundation, Estrella Damm, American Airlines, Telemundo and Miami-Dade County. For more information, visit miamifilmfestival.com or call 305-237-FILM (3456).
MDC’s Miami Film Festival Media Relations Contacts:
NEW YORK / LOS ANGELES / TRADE
Steven Wilson, Scenario PR | 310-497-4951 | steven.wilson@scenariopr.com
MIAMI
Emmanuel Genao, Miami Film Festival, 305-237-7790 | egenao@mdc.edu
MDC’s Media Relations Contacts:
Juan C. Mendieta, MDC Communications Director, 305-237-7611, jmendiet@mdc.edu
Hessy Fernandez, Director, Media Relations, 305-237-3949, hfernan5@mdc.edu
Sue Arrowsmith, Information Specialist, 305-237-3710, sue.arrowsmith@mdc.edu
Allison Horton, Information Specialist, 305-237-3359, ahorton@mdc.edu
