John Hurt, Tahar Rahim, Yoav Shamir: London 2009

Tahar Rahim, the star of Jacques Audiard’s widely praised prison drama A Prophet, winner of the best picture award at the London Film Festival and a likely best foreign language film Oscar contender, arrives for the Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival Awards Ceremony at Inner Temple on October 28. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

John Hurt and Ann Rees Meyers arrive for the Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival Awards Ceremony. Hurt and filmmaker Souleymane Cissé were given BFI Fellowships at the awards ceremony. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

Filmmaker Yoav Shamir, whose documentary Defamation won the London Film Festival’s top prize in that category, arrives for the Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival Awards Ceremony. Defamation [...]

Dominic Cooper, Jodie Whittaker, Tahar Rahim: London 2009

Screenwriter Jack Thorne, voted best British newcomer for The Scouting Book for Boys, poses with his award. Actors Dominic Cooper and Jodie Whittaker are standing next to him at the Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival Awards Ceremony at Inner Temple on October 28. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

Documentary filmmaker Yoav Shamir poses with his Grierson Award for Best Documentary Defamation, an European Film Award nominee and a potential Oscar 2010 contender, at the Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival Awards Ceremony. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

Tahar Rahim, the star of Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet, poses with the Best Film award given to Audiard’s gritty prison drama. Academy Award winner and London Film [...]

London Film Festival Awards 2009

Star of London for Best Film: Jacques Audiard’s A PROPHET
On behalf of the London Film Festival jury, Anjelica Huston stated: “A masterpiece: Un prohète has the ambition, purity of vision and clarity of purpose to make it an instant classic. With seamless and imaginative story-telling, superb performances and universal themes, Jacques Audiard has made a perfect film.” In A Prophet, Tahar Rahim stars as a prison newcomer who learns how to become that realm’s top dog.

Special mention: John Hillcoat’s THE ROAD

Best British Newcomer: Jack Thorne, screenwriter of the film THE SCOUTING BOOK FOR BOYS

Sutherland Award for most original and imaginative first feature: Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani for AJAMI

Grierson Award for Best Documentary: Yoav Shamir for [...]

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 2009: Best Actor Favorites

Best Actor
Tahar Rahim as a young man behind bars in A Prophet.
Ben Whishaw as John Keats in Bright Star.
André Dussollier as the elderly hero in Wild Grass.
François Cluzet as a con man in In the Beginning.
 
Photos: Courtesy Festival de Cannes
 

Cannes 2009: Palme d’Or Favorites

Palme d’Or 2009, Grand Prix, Special Jury Prize:
Alain Resnais‘ romantic fantasy Wild Grass (adapted by Alex Reval and Laurent Herbiet from Christian Gailly’s novel), about a man who becomes intrigued by a younger woman
Jacques Audiard’s tough prison drama A Prophet (written by Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Abdel Raouf Dafri, and Nicolas Peufaillit)
Writer-director Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon, about a northern German community enmeshed in a series of nasty events right before the beginning of World War I
Writer-director Jane Campion’s Bright Star, about the doomed love affair between British poet John Keats and his neighbor, Fanny Brawne
 
Photos: Courtesy Festival de Cannes