Lav Diaz's 'Magellan' wins Best Picture at SEMINCI film festival

Lav Diaz's epic historical drama "Magellan" won the Golden Spike for Best Picture at the 70th Valladolid International Film Festival (SEMINCI) in Spain.

The film shared the top award with Kelly Reichardt's "The Mastermind."

The SEMINCI jury praised "Magellan" for "allowing us to immerse ourselves in the past from the present, re-reading colonial history through a complex and critical lens," and lauded its "extraordinary aesthetic, photographic and temporal vision," and "narrative ambition, formal rigor, and unique ability to intertwine historical reflection with cinematic experience."

Diaz dedicated the award "For the Philippines and for Filipino film."

The film, which has a running time of 2 hours and 45 minutes, tells the story of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan circumnavigating the world amid the tensions between Spain and Portugal's colonial campaign, sailing to Cebu where he meets Rajah Humabon.

"Magellan" is the Philippines' official entry for the Best International Feature category at the upcoming Academy Awards.

German film "Silent Friend" by Ildiko Enyedi bagged the Silver Spike and Green Spike plums at the closing gala.

The Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP) praised the film's achievement on its Facebook page.