'Twilight' tops Lisbon festival

LISBON -- Angelina Nikonova's helming debut, "Twilight Portrait," about a Russian social worker bent on vengeance after being gang raped, won best film at the fifth Lisbon and Estoril Film Festival, which wrapped Sunday. Cedric Kahn's cuisine-themed "A Better Life" received the special jury award and the CineEuropa prize. Special mentions went to Bujar Alimani's Albanian penitentiary love tale "Amnesty" and Joachim Trier's Norwegian drug-rehab pic "Oslo, August 31." The competition jury was made up of novelists J.M. Coetzee, Don DeLillo, Paul Auster and Siri Hustvedt; violinist Gidon Kremer; and artist Jose Barrias. Career tributes were awarded to helmers William Friedkin, Wes Anderson and Leos Carax and cinematographer Peter Suschitzky. David Cronenberg held a master class, showing a teaser of his forthcoming "Cosmopolis," based on DeLillo's novel and produced by Paulo Branco, who also runs the fest. Other guests at the 10-day event included thesps Paul Giamatti, Sarah Gadon, Marisa Paredes, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, visual artist Matthew Barney and playwright Peter Handke. The fest widened its screening venues this year to include the Portuguese capital, Lisbon. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com