2006 Palm Springs Film Festival Awards
2006 Palm Springs Film Festival: January 5-16, 2006
Set in French Indochina shortly before World War II, Minh Nguyen-Vo's Buffalo Boy depicts the coming-of-age journey of a teenager while transporting his family's buffalos to safer pastures during the region's seasonal floods. The line-up of the 17th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival included 232 films from more than 70 countries. Among the festival highlights were Breno Silveira's Two Sons of Francisco, one of Brazil's biggest box-office hits ever (and the cause of much consternation to Brazilian President Lula, who was caught watching a pirated DVD of the film); Cristina Comencini's Don't Tell, a drama about the consequences of incest-rape and Italy's submission for the 2006 best foreign-language film Academy Award; Ramón Salazar's Almodovaresque musical 20 Centimeters, from Spain; and Marrakech Film Festival winner Saratan, from Kyrgyzstan, directed by Ernest Abdyshaparov.
FIPRESCI Awards
Best Foreign Language Film: Mua len trau / Buffalo Boy (Vietnam), directed by Minh Nguyen-Vo
Best Actor: Ion Fiscuteanu, Moartea domnului Lazarescu / The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Romania), directed by Cristi Puiu
Best Actress: Meltem Cumbul, Gönül yarasi / Lovelorn (Turkey) directed by Yavuz Turgul.
New Voices / New Visions Award: Love + Hate (U.K.), directed by Dominic Savage
Special New Voices Jury Prize: Jogo Subterrâneo / Underground Game (Brazil), directed by Roberto Gervitz
Audience Award for Narrative Feature (tie): Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (U.K.), directed by Dan Ireland, and Äideistä parhain / Mother of Mine (Finland / Sweden), directed by Klaus Härö
Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature: Five Days in September (Canada), directed by Barbara Willis Sweete
John Schlesinger Award for Outstanding First Feature (Narrative or Documentary): 2 Filhos de Francisco / Two Sons of Francisco (Brazil), directed by Breno Silveira
Sonny Bono Visionary Award: David Cronenberg
Desert Palm Achievement Award: Jake Gyllenhaal, Charlize Theron
Rising Star Award: Terrence Howard
Breakthrough Performance Award: Felicity Huffman
Producer of the Year Award: Michael London
Frederick Loewe Award for Film Composing: Thomas Newman
Lifetime Achievement Award: Shirley MacLaine
FIPRESCI jury members: Jury president Kirill Razlogov (Russia), Henrik Uth Jensen (Denmark), Gideon Kouts (France), Charles-Stephane Roy (Canada), and Robert Koehler (U.S.)
Palm Springs International Film Festival Site
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