27/02/2023

The UIC Barcelona documentary 'Brazadas' is awarded the prize for Sport and Society at the BCN Sports Film Festival

Brazadas, a documentary on ALS produced by the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC Barcelona), has won the Sport and Society Award at the 13th edition of the BCN Sports Film Festival. The awards ceremony took place on Saturday night at the Joan Antoni Samaranch Olympic and Sport Museum, where the winners from different categories in the festival were announced. Brazadas was among the 67 finalists, selected from more than 2,000 nominations received from all over the world.

Brazadas is about the adventure of Daniel Rossines, who swam around the island of Menorca in order to raise funds for the research of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). UIC Barcelona general manager Josep Maria Torné and director of the documentary and head of audiovisual content at the university Albert Gordillo, collected the award on behalf of UIC Barcelona.

Both Gordillo and Torné shared a few words of thanks for this award, which was “totally unexpected when we started working with this documentary,” acknowledged the general manager. Albert Gordillo recalled that “this film is for all people suffering from ALS and their families” and there was some emotion as he thanked them “for everything they have taught us and for being examples to live up to”.

Alongside the Brazadas crew some of the protagonists were also present, such as Daniel Rossines and Juan Carlos Unzué, renowned former footballer and former coach diagnosed with ALS in 2020, who is now focused on research into the disease and supporting people who suffer from it.

The closing ceremony was hosted by the TV3 journalist Jordi Fandiño, who also won a category. The awards were presented by David Escudé, president of the Barcelona Olympic Foundation and sports councillor of the Barcelona City Council. Five hundred films were shortlisted from 2,000 nominations, and the jury awarded eight prizes. Finally, the main prize, Ánfora Ciudad de Barcelona for Best Film 2023, went to the documentary film Enzo Ferrari: the Red and the Black directed by Italian Enrico Cerasuolo and produced by Massimo Arvat, which tells the legend of Ferrari.

The other winners were: Special Jury Prize, for L’avversario, an Italian work directed by Federico Russotto and produced by CSC Production; the Award for Best Animation went to Egoland, a Catalan production on the risks of mountaineering and meteorology, by director Ignasi Lopez; Award for Best Documentary went to The Queen of Basketball, an Oscar-winning American production for Best Documentary Short in 2022; Award for Best Fiction, for the Croatian short film Penalty shot, directed by Rok Bicek; Award for Best Adventure Sport Production was for Álvaro Bultó, for Paris, the mecca of parkour; and award for Best Catalan Production, for the Catalan documentary Perseguint un somni, about the Barcelona footballer Alexia Putellas.