Silvia Novak, a Chilean film, theatre and TV actress, was the winner this weekend of the award for Best Actress at the London Independent Film Festival “Best Film Awards”.
“Winning these international recognitions, I’m not just sorry for my work, I’m sorry for teamwork and especially Chilean cinema, which is increasingly projected in the world,” says Novak.
“The Pelican” is a thriller and drama film that portrays the consequences of the bad behavior of a woman in her sixties who, in her unbridled obsession with feeling young and attractive, and getting what she wants no matter how, triggers the total destruction of her husband and children, with whom she has formed a totally dysfunctional family.
Monthly festival
The BFA is a monthly festival with live screening once a month and an annual film festival for filmmakers from all over the world, based in London.
The festival’s group consists of filmmakers, producers and entrepreneurs. “We know how hard it is to show the world that someone appreciates your work. That’s why we came up with a unique project involving several jurors from around the world,” says Tereza Hirsch, director of “The Guilt List.”
For the festival it is necessary to recognize talent as passion and reward the best film actress, according to its organizers.
“It’s based on a professional approach. We assess the credibility of the actor’s speech, the complexity of the character, the accuracy of the actors’ actions, the interaction of the actors in the ensemble,” explains Patrik Krivanek, a member of the British Film Institute (BFI) and a member of the Royal Television Society.
Second prize
The actress, on December 31, 2020, also won the Best Actress award at the Moving Film Festival, an Iranian competition dedicated to independent film, for the same film. Thus, there are already two international awards for the performance of his character.
“The film is an updated contemporary version of August Strindberg’s classic Swedish work, adapted to this Latin American family life in a small town off the coast of Chile, set in 2008,” says its director, Gustavo Letelier.
For the actress, working on the film was “a tremendous challenge.” Strindberg is an “author I’ve adored since I studied theater at the University of Chile. When Gustavo invited me to participate in the film, and told me that my character would be Lucia, the mother, that role gave me immense challenge and emotion,” she concludes.
