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To start our overview, let us hail the
official competition, with Europe winning most of the prizes.
The White Ribbon: Austrian Michael Haneke winner of the Palme d’Or, featuring producers from Austria, France and Germany and also received the International Critics’ Prize (Fipresci) plus a special mention from the ecumenical jury.
A prophet: The new film by Jacques Audiard (France/Italy), the other great favourite, won the Grand Prize.
Antichrist: Award for Best Actress went to Charlotte Gainsbourg for the new film by Lars von Trier (Denmark).
Inglorious Basterds: Austrian Christoph Waltz landed the Award for Best Actor for his role as an SS officer in the Quentin Tarantino film (USA/Germany).
Wild Grass: The new film by Alain Resnais (France/Italy) received great reviews from the press and its director won Lifetime Achievement Award.
Fish Tank: The second feature film from Englishwoman Andrea Arnold shared the Jury Prize Ex-aequo with Korean offering
Thirst by Park Chan-Wook.
Looking for Eric: The Prize of the Ecumenical Jury went to the Ken Loach comedy (United Kingdom/France/Italy/Belgium).
The Palme d’Or - Short Film, which often heralds a promising future for the prize winners, went to Portugal’s João Salaviza for
Arena, whilst the Cinéfondation jury honoured a Czech director, Zuzana Kirchneroba-Spidlova, for her short film
Baba.
European films also dominated the category
Un Certain regard.
Dogtooth: Greek Yorgos Lanthimos won the Un Certain Regard Prize with this intriguing, disturbing and highly original first feature which bizarrely received little coverage during the festival.
Police, Adjective: Corneliu Porumboiu will not be passed on to the Official Selection from the Directors’ Fortnight for nothing, his second feature film managing to land the Jury Prize - Un Certain Regard and Fipresci prize. Recall that his first feature,
12h08 East of Bucharest, had won the Label Europa Cinemas and the Caméra d’Or.
Father of My Children: Frenchwoman Mia Hansen-Love continues her path to excellence and her second feature film took Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize Ex-aequo along with
No One Knows About Persian Cats (Iran/Germany), from Bahman Ghobadi.
At the
Directors’ Fortnight, apart from the Europa Cinemas Label which was awarded to
La Pivellina (Austria/Italy) by Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel by a jury comprising 4 network member exhibitors,
The Misfortunates from Belgian Felix Van Groeningen - in the tradition of
Eldorado and
Louise-Michel - underlies the strength of the eccentricity and poetic nature of Belgian humour and received the Art Cinema special mention.
In the
International Critics’ Week, French film
Adieu Gary by Nassim Amaouche won the Grand Prize, whilst SACD honoured the excellent
Lost Persons Area by Caroline Strubbe (Belgium/Hungary/Netherlands). The two awards for best short film went to the very funny
Seeds of the Fall by the Swede Patrick Eklund and
Logorama by the graphic designers and directors of French movie clips in the H5 organisation.
Finally, note that three Asian films are among the official competition winners, a promising presence whilst the Europa Cinemas network cinemas are heavily involved in the launch of the MEDIA International campaign and this will lead them to step up their efforts for the distribution of Asian, Latin American and Southern Mediterranean cinematographies.
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The White Ribbon:
www.filmsdulosange.frA prophet:
www.celluloid-dreams.comAntichrist:
www.trustnordisk.comWild Grass: Orly Films
Fish Tank:
www.contentfilm.comLooking for Eric:
www.wildbunch.bizDogtooth:
www.mk2.comPolice, Adjective:
www.coach14.comFather of My Children:
www.filmsdulosange.frLa Pivellina:
www.filmsdistribution.comThe Misfortunates:
www.mk2.comAdieu Gary:
www.studiocanal.comLost Persons Area:
www.umedia.fr
