European Film Awards 2009: Nominations

Tahar Rahim in A Prophet (top); Dev Patel, Freida Pinto in Slumdog Millionaire (middle); The White Ribbon by Michael Haneke (bottom)

Six films are vying for the top prize at the 2009 European Film Awards. They are:

Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank, about a teenager (best actress nominee Katie Jarvis) upset that her mother has found herself a new boyfriend (Michael Fassbender)
Stephen Daldry’s The Reader, a melodrama starring Kate Winslet as a former Nazi guard who believes that being illiterate is worse than being an accomplice to mass murder
Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet, a prison drama about a toughie (best actor nominee Tahar Rahim) fighting his way to the top of the world behind bars
Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, about a young man (best actor [...]

AFI FEST 2009 Awards

AFI FEST 2009 Awards
AFI FEST 2009: Hollywood/Santa Monica, Oct. 30-Nov. 7, 2009
 

Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank focuses on a working-class teenager (Katie Jarvis) frustrated that her mother has found a new beau (Michael Fassbender); Javier Rebollo’s Woman Without Piano is a dramatic portrait of 24 hours in the life of a Madrid housewife (Carmen Machi); and Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani’s Ajami (above) chronicles the day-to-day, anything-but-routine lives of several denizens of a tough neighborhood in Jaffa, where Muslims, Jews, and Christians are sworn to live in bloody disharmony.
 
NEW LIGHTS COMPETITION AWARD WINNER

FISH TANK DIR: Andrea Arnold UK

WOMAN WITHOUT PIANO (LA MUJER SIN PIANO) DIR: Javier Rebollo Spain/France

SPECIAL JURY MENTION
AJAMI DIR: Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani Israel/Germany

AFI FEST 2009 NEW LIGHTS [...]

AFI FEST 2009: SOMETHING’S GONNA LIVE, ABOUT ELLY, DOCTOR PARNASSUS

Heath Ledger in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (top); A Lake by Philippe Grandrieux (middle); Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest (bottom)

AFI FEST 2009 highlights, Nov. 2:

Daniel Raim’s documentary Something’s Gonna Live, which features interviews with several behind-the-scenes veterans, including Robert Boyle, Conrad Hall, and Haskell Wexler
Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which marks Heath Ledger’s last film appearance
Asghar Farhadi’s drama About Elly, winner of the Silver Bear for best director at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival
Andrea Arnold’s family drama Fish Tank, winner of the Jury Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival
Bahman Ghobadi’s No One Knows About Persian Cats, about the obstacles faced by a couple of Iranian teenagers trying to form a rock band [...]

Chicago Film Festival Awards 2009

2009 Chicago Film Festival Awards
2009 Chicago Film Festival: Oct. 8-22, 2009
 

Tina Mabry’s Mississippi Damned depicts the issues faced by the children of a poor and highly dysfunctional family in rural Mississippi. Earlier this year, the film was given the top prize at Outfest in Los Angeles.
 
International Feature Film Competition

Gold Hugo for Best Film: MISSISSIPPI DAMNED (US)

Silver Hugo for Special Jury Award: FISH TANK (UK)

Silver Hugo for Best Director: Marco Bellocchio for VINCERE (Italy)
Silver Hugo for Best Actress: Giovanna Mezzogiorno of VINCERE (Italy)
Silver Hugo for Best Actor: Filippo Timi of VINCERE (Italy)
Gold Plaque for Best Supporting Actress: Jossie Harris Thacker in MISSISSIPPI DAMNED (US)

Gold Plaque for Best Supporting Actor: Michael Fassbender in FISH TANK (UK) [...]

2009 British Independent Film Award Nominations

Katie Jarvis in Fish Tank (top); Sam Rockwell in Moon (middle); Carey Mulligan, Dominic Cooper in An Education (bottom)

Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank leads the list of 2009 British Independent Film Award nominees.
The tale of a rough teenager (Katie Jarvis) whose life is upended after her mother gets a new boyfriend, Fish Tank was shortlisted in eight categories including best independent British film, best director, best screenplay (Arnold), best actress (Jarvis), best supporting actress (Kierston Wareing), best supporting actor (2008 BIFA best actor winner Michael Fassbender), and most promising newcomer (also Jarvis).
Duncan Jones‘ feature-film debut, the sci-fi thriller Moon, received seven nominations including best British film, best director, best debut director, and best actor (Sam Rockwell).
Lone [...]

British Independent Film Awards 2009

2009 British Independent Film Awards
2009 British Independent Film Award nominations: Oct. 26, 2009
2009 British Independent Film Award winners: The Brewery in London on Dec. 6, 2009
 

Emma Thompson, Carey Mulligan in An Education (top); Katie Jarvis in Fish Tank (bottom)
 

BEST BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM
An Education
Fish Tank
In the Loop
Moon
Nowhere Boy
BEST FOREIGN FILM
Il Divo
The Hurt Locker
Let The Right One In
Sin Nombre
The Wrestler
BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Age of Stupid
The End of The Line
Mugabe and The White African
Sons of Cuba
Sounds Like Teen Spirit
BEST DIRECTOR
Andrea Arnold – Fish Tank
Armando Iannucci – In the Loop
Duncan Jones – [...]

Edinburgh Film Festival Awards 2009

2009 Edinburgh Film Festival Awards
2009 Edinburgh Film Festival: June 17-28, 2009
 

After spending three years at a moon base extracting a gas needed to reverse Earth’s energy crisis, an astronaut (Sam Rockwell) is about to return to his home planet when he starts seeing and hearing things. His company has apparently come up with an eerie retirement plan of their own.
 

Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film: Moon directed by Duncan Jones
Best Performance in a British Feature Film: Katie Jarvis in Fish Tank
Best New International Feature: Easier with Practice by Kyle Patrick Alvarez
Best Documentary: Boris Ryzhy by Aliona van der Horst
Best British Short Film: After Tomorrow by Emma Sullivan
Best International Short Film: Princess Margaret BLVD directed by Kazik Radwanksi
[...]

Cannes 2009 Winners

One of the 2009 Cannes Film Festival’s clear favorites, Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon, a stark tale about a small northern German town beset by strange happenings right before the beginning of World War I, took the Palme d’Or for best film. (Cannes 2009 winners list.)
"Happiness is very rare," said Haneke upon accepting his prize. "This is one moment in my life in which I’m very happy, and so are you, I believe," he added, speaking to his wife.
The White Ribbon also won the International Film Critics’ FIPRESCI Prize for best film in the official competition. And it’ll surely be Austria’s submission for the 2010 best foreign-language film Academy Award.

Another festival favorite, Jacques Audiard’s tough drama A [...]

Cannes Awards 2009

2009 Cannes Film Festival Awards
2009 Cannes Film Festival: May 13–24
 

IN COMPETITION – FEATURE FILMS

Palme d’Or DAS WEISSE BAND (The White Ribbon) directed by Michael HANEKE

Grand Prix UN PROPHÈTE (A Prophet) directed by Jacques AUDIARD

Jury Prize (tie) FISH TANK directed by Andrea ARNOLD and BAK-JWI (Thirst) directed by PARK Chan-Wook

Best Director Brillante MENDOZA for KINATAY

Best Actor Christoph WALTZ in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS directed by Quentin TARANTINO

Best Actress Charlotte GAINSBOURG in ANTICHRIST directed by Lars von TRIER

Best Screenplay MEI Feng for CHUN FENG CHEN ZUI DE YE WAN (Spring Fever) directed by LOU Ye

Prix Vulcain: Artist-Technician Aitor BERENGUER, sound technician of the movie MAP OF THE SOUNDS OF TOKYO directed by Isabel COIXET

Lifetime achievement award for his [...]

Cannes 2009: Best Actress Favorites

Best Actress
Charlotte Gainsbourg as a bereaved mother in Antichrist.
Penélope Cruz, Almodóvar’s diva in Broken Embraces.
Abbie Cornish as Fanny Brawne in Bright Star.
Katie Jarvis as an aimless teenager in Fish Tank.
Giovanna Mezzogiorno as Benito Mussolini’s ex in Vincere.
 
Photos: Courtesy Festival de Cannes
 

Cannes 2009: Ken Loach, Ang Lee, Andrea Arnold, Jacques Audiard

Derek Elley on Looking for Eric (above, Ken Loach and Eric Cantona) in Variety:
"… helmer Ken Loach and writer Paul Laverty’s ninth feature together is a curious hybrid: Three movies — boilerplate, socially aware Loach; personal fantasy; romantic comedy — wrap around a central core of a hopeless soccer fanatic who’s given a second chance to sort out his life. As in many of Laverty’s scripts, problems of overall tone and character development aren’t solved by Loach’s easygoing direction, though when it works, Eric has many incidental pleasures."
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Anthony Kaufman on A Prophet at indieWIRE:
"If James Toback’s petty-criminal tale Fingers inspired Jacques Audiard’s previous The Beat That My Heart Skipped, it’s Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas [...]

Cannes 2009: Competition Films

Cannes Film Festival 2009: Competition Line-Up
Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Los abrazos rotos (Broken Embraces), Pedro Almodóvar, Spain

Fish Tank, Andrea Arnold, UK

Un prophète (A Prophet), Jacques Audiard, France

Vincere, Marco Bellocchio, Italy

Bright Star, Jane Campion, UK

Bakjwi (Thirst), Park Chan-wook, South-Korea

Map of the Sounds of Tokyo, Isabel Coixet, Spain

À l’origine (In the Beginning), Xavier Giannoli, France

Das weisse Band (The White Ribbon), Michael Haneke, Austria

Taking Woodstock, Ang Lee, USA
Palme d’Or Line-Up: Part II