British street gangs top San Sebastian Film Festival: Neds directed by Peter Mullan.
Peter Mullan’s Glasgow-set drama Neds, about a distraught teenager who joins a street gang in the early 1970s, won the Golden Shell for Best Film at the 2010 edition of Spain’s San Sebastian Film Festival, which came to a close this past weekend. As the sensitive teen-turned-gangbanger, newcomer Conor McCarron was given the Silver Shell for Best Actor. (See below list of San Sebastian Film Festival winners.)
Mullan, whose The Magdalene Sisters won the 2002 Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion (and the Vatican’s wrath), is currently working as an actor on Steven Spielberg’s World War I drama War Horse. Mullan’s acting, in fact, has earned him honors as well, including the Best Actor award at Cannes in 1998 for his performance in Ken Loach’s My Name Is Joe.
Neds is one of the gala events at next month’s London Film Festival.
The San Sebastian festival’s Special Jury Prize went to Judith Colell and Jordi Cadena’s Catalan drama Elisa K., about child sexual abuse.
Raoul Ruiz, currently recovering from cancer, won the Silver Shell for Best Director for the four-hour Misterios de Lisboa / Mysteries of Lisbon, a series of stories about human relationships based on a book by Portuguese author Camilo Castelo Branco.
The Best Actress winner was Nora Navas for Pa Negre / Black Bread, Agusti Villaronga’s Catalan drama set in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, while the Best Screenplay trophy went to writer-director Bent Hamer for Home for Christmas, a series of vignettes set in a small Norwegian town and based on author Levi Henriksen’s tales.
Jimmy Gimferrer won the Best Cinematography award for José María de Orbe’s Aita / Father, set in an old abandoned house.
Additionally, early last week Julia Roberts received the Donostia career award. Javier Bardem, Roberts’ costar in the international success Eat Pray Love, handed her the trophy.
Image: Montse G. Castillo | San Sebastian Film Festival
Best Actor winner Conor McCarron (top); Best Actress winner Nora Navas (bottom)
SPECIAL MENTION to
“A JAMA” by DAOUD AOULAD-SYAD (Morocco-France) For the complexity achieved by a simple story.
JURY PRIZE FOR BEST SCREENPLAY to
BENT HAMER for “HOME FOR CHRISTMAS” (Norway-Sweden-Germany)
JURY PRIZE FOR BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY to
JIMMY GIMFERRER for “AITA” (Spain)
SILVER SHELL FOR BEST ACTOR to
CONNOR McCARRON for “NEDS” (UK-France-Italy)
SILVER SHELL FOR BEST ACTRESS to
NORA NAVAS for “PA NEGRE” (Spain)
SILVER SHELL FOR BEST DIRECTOR to
RAOUL RUIZ for “MISTÉRIOS DE LISBOA” (Spain)
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE to
“ELISA K” by JUDITH COLELL and JORDI CADENA (Spain) For the way it portrays the violence to which innocent people are exposed to in everyday life.
GOLDEN SHELL FOR BEST FILM to
“NEDS” by PETER MULLAN (UK-France-Italy)
Jury:
* Mr. GORAN PASKALJEVIC (Serbia) (President)
* Ms. JO ALLEN (UK)
* Mr. JOSE CORONADO (Spain)
* Ms. CLAUDIA LLOSA (Perú)
* Mr. RAYA MARTIN (Philippines)
* Mr. PABLO TRAPERO (Argentina)
* Ms. LUCY WALKER (UK)
Photos: Inaki Pardo / San Sebastian Film Festival
San Sebastian Film Festival website.
Roman Polanski & Jean Luc-Godard: European Film Awards’ semifinalists
Jean-Luc Godard’s experimental Film Socialisme, Semih Kaplanoglu’s Berlin Film Festival winner Bal / Honey, Roman Polanski’s thriller The Ghost Writer, Samuel Maoz’s 2009 Venice Film Festival winner Lebanon, Ferzan Ozpetek’s (gay) family comedy Loose Cannons, Sam Taylor Wood’s young John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy, and Juan José Campanella’s Academy Award-winning The Secret in Their Eyes are among the 46 titles in consideration for the 2010 European Film Awards. [Full list of 2010 European Film Award semi-finalists.]
Those semi-finalists, most of which are co-productions hail from 32 countries, chiefly Germany (nine titles), France (seven), the United Kingdom (five), and Italy (five). Titles released in 2009 are included because the European Film Awards – to its detriment – don’t follow the calendar year.
According to EFA rules, “in the 20 countries with the most EFA Members, these members have voted one national film directly into the selection list.” To complete the list of semi-finalists, a Selection Committee consisting of EFA Board Members and “invited experts” Gunnar Bergdahl (Sweden), Pierre-Henri Deleau (France), Stefan Kitanov (Bulgaria), Derek Malcolm (UK), and Nikolaj Nikitin (Germany) added an unspecified number of films.
In the coming weeks, the 2,300 European Film Academy members will vote for the nominations in the various categories.
The 2010 European Film Award nominations will be announced on November 6 at the Seville European Film Festival in Spain.
The 23rd European Film Awards ceremony will take place in Tallinn, Estonia, on December 4.
3 SEZÓNY V PEKLE
3 SEASONS IN HELL
Czech Republic, 110 min.
written and directed by Tomáš Mašin
produced by Monika KristlANOTHER YEAR
UK, 129 min.
written and directed by Mike Leigh
produced by Georgina LoweBAL
HONEY
Turkey/Germany, 103 min.
directed by Semih Kaplanoglu
written by Semih Kaplanoglu & Orçun Köksal
produced by Semih Kaplanoglu & Johannes RexinCARLOS
France/Germany, 318 min.
directed by Olivier Assayas
written by Olivier Assayas & Dan Franck based on an original idea by Daniel Leconte
produced by Daniel Leconte, Jens Meurer & Judy TossellCELDA 211
CELL 211
Spain / France, 114 min.
directed by by Daniel Monzón
written by Jorge Guerricaechevarría & Daniel Monzón
produced by Emma Lustres, Borja Pena, Juan Gordon & Álvaro AugustínLE CONCERT
THE CONCERT
France, 122 min.
directed by Radu Mihaileanu
written by Radu Mihaileanu
produced by Alain AttalDES HOMMES ET DES DIEUX
OF GODS AND MEN
France, 120 min.
directed by Xavier Beauvois
written by Etienne Comar & Xavier BeauvoisEU CAND VREAU SA FLUIER, FLUIER
IF I WANT TO WHISTLE, I WHISTLE
Romania, 94 min.
directed by Florin Serban
written by Catalin Mitulescu & Florin Serban
produced by Catalin MitulescuFILM SOCIALISME
FILM SOCIALISM
Switzerland, 102 min.
written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard
produced by Ruth WaldburgerDIE FREMDE
WHEN WE LEAVE
Germany, 119 min.
written and directed by Feo Aladag
produced by Feo Aladag & Züli AladagTHE GHOST WRITER
France/Germany/UK, 128 min.
directed by Roman Polanski
written by Robert Harris & Roman Polanski
produced by Robert Benmussa, Alain Sarde & Roman PolanskiGIULIAS VERSCHWINDEN
JULIA’S DISAPPEARANCE
Switzerland, 87 min.
directed by Christoph Schaub
written by Martin Suter
produced by Marcel HoehnHONEYMOONS
Serbia/Albania, 95 min.
directed by Goran Paskaljevic
written by Goran Paskaljevic & Genc Permeti
produced by Goran Paskaljevic & Genc PermetiI0, DON GIOVANNI
I, DON GIOVANNI
Austria/Italy/Spain, 120 min.
directed by Carlos Saura
written by Carlos Saura, Raffaelo Uboldi & Alessandro Vallini
produced by Andrea Occhipinti, Andres Vicente Gomez & Igor UboldiKAK YA PROVEL ETIM LETOM
HOW I ENDED THIS SUMMER
Russia, 124 min.
written and directed by Alexei Popogrebsky
produced by Roman Borisevich & Alexandr KushaevKAWASAKIHO RUŽE
KAWASAKI’S ROSE
Czech Republic, 95 min.
directed by Jan Hrebejk
written by Petr Jarchovský
produced by Rudolf Biermann & Tomas HoffmanKENJAC
DONKEY
Croatia, 94 min.
written and directed by Antonio Nuic
produced by Boris T. MaticLEBANON
Israel, 94 min.
written and directed by Samuel Maoz
produced by Moshe Edery, Leon Edery, David Silber, Uri Sabag, Einat Bickel, Benjamina Mirnik & Illan GirardLOURDES
Austria / France / Germany, 99 min.
written and directed by Jessica Hausner
produced by Martin Gschlacht, Philippe Bober & Susanne MarianMAMMA GÓGÓ
Iceland, 88 min.
written and directed by Fridrik Thor Fridriksson
produced by Gudrun Edda Thorhannesdottir & Fridrik Thor FridrikssonMINE VAGANTI
LOOSE CANNONS
Italy, 116 min.
directed by Ferzan Ozpetek
written by Ivan Cotroneo & Ferzan Ozpetek
produced by Domenico ProcacciMY QUEEN KARO
Belgium/the Netherlands, 101 min.
directed by Dorothée van den Berghe
written by Dorothée van den Berghe in collaboration with Peter van Kraaij
produced by Frank Van Passel, Bert Hamelinck & Frans Van GestelNA PUTU
ON THE PATH
Bosnia & Herzegovina/Austria/Germany/Croatia, 100 min.
written and directed by Jasmila Žbanic
produced by Damir Ibrahimovic, Bruno Wagner, Barbara Albert, Karl Baumgartner, Raimond Goebel, Leon LucevLA NOSTRA VITA
OUR LIFE
Italy, 98 min.
directed by Daniele Luchetti
written by Sandro Petraglia, Stefano Rulli & Daniele Luchetti
produced by Riccardo Tozzi, Giovanni Stabilini & Marco ChimenzNOTHING PERSONAL
the Netherlands, Ireland, 85 min.
written and directed by Urszula Antoniak
produced by Reinier Selen & Edwin van MeursNOWHERE BOY
UK, 98 min.
directed by Sam Taylor-Wood
written by Matt Greenhalgh
produced by Robert Bernstein, Douglas Rae, Kevin LoaderONDINE
Ireland, 111 min.
written and directed by Neil Jordan
produced by James Flynn & Neil JordanPAHA PERHE
BAD FAMILY
Finland, 95 min.
written and directed by Aleksi Salmenperä
produced by Aki KaurismäkiPÁL ADRIENN
ADRIENN PÁL
Hungary, 136 min.
directed by Ágnes Kocsis
written by Ágnes Kocsis & Andrea Roberti
produced by Ferenc PusztaiLA PRIMA COSA BELLA
THE FIRST BEAUTIFUL THING
Italy, 116 min.
directed by Paolo Virzi
written by Francesco Piccolo, Francesco Bruni & Paolo Virzi
produced by Fabrizio Donvito, Marco Cohen, Benedetto HabibPÜHA TÕNU KIUSAMINE
THE TEMPTATION OF ST.TONY
Estonia, 114 min.
written and directed by Veiko Õunpuu
produced by Katrin KissaDER RÄUBER
THE ROBBER
Austria/Germany, 96 min.
directed by Benjamin Heisenberg
written by Benjamin Heisenberg & Martin Prinz
produced by Michael Kitzberger, Nikolaus Geyrhalter, Markus Glaser, Wolfgang Widerhofer & Peter HeilrathREWERS
THE REVERSE
Poland, 101 min.
directed by Borys Lankosz
written by Andrzej Bart
produced by Jerzy Kapuscinski & Wojciech KabarowskiSCHASTYE MOYE
MY JOY
Germany/Ukraine/the Netherlands, 127 min.
written and directed by Sergei Loznitsa
produced by Heino Deckert & Oleg KokhanSEBBE
Sweden, 80 min.
written and directed by Babak Najafi
produced by Mimmi Spång & Rebecka LafrenzEL SECRETO DE SUS OJOS
THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES
Spain/Argentina, 129 min.
directed by Juan José Campanella
written by Eduardo Sacheri & Juan José Campanella
produced by Gerardo Herrero, Mariela Besuievsky & Juan José CampanellaSLOVENKA
SLOVENIAN GIRL
Slovenia, 90 min.
directed by Damjan Kozole
written by Ognjen Svilicic, Matevž Luzar & Damjan Kozole
produced by Danijel HocevarSOUL KITCHEN
Germany, 99 min.
directed by Fatih Akin
written by Fatih Akin & Adam Bousdoukos
produced by Fatih Akin & Klaus MaeckSUBMARINO
Denmark, 110 min.
directed by Thomas Vinterberg
written by Tobias Lindholm & Thomas Vinterberg
produced by Morten KaufmannTAMARA DREWE
UK, 111 min.
directed by Stephen Frears
written by Moira Buffini
produced by Alison Owen, Tracey Seaward & Paul TrijbitsTESSERA MAVRA KOUSTOUMIA
4 BLACK SUITS
Greece, 90 min.
written and directed by Renos Haralambidis
produced by Aggelo Veneti, Iraklis Mavroidis, Takis Nikolakopoulos & Aris DayiosTOURNEE
ON TOUR
France, 111 min.
directed by Mathieu Amalric
written by Mathieu Amalric, Philippe Di Folco & Marcelo Novais-Teles
produced by Yael FogielL’UOMO CHE VERRÀ
THE MAN WHO WILL COME
Italy, 117 min.
directed by Giorgio Diritti
written by Giorgio Diritti, Giovanni Galavotti & Tania Pedroni
produced by Simone Bachini & Giorgio DirittiUPPERDOG
Norway, 95 min.
written and directed by Sara Johnsen
produced by Christian Fredrik Martin & Asle VatnDE VLIEGENIERSTER VAN KAZBEK
THE AVIATRIX OF KAZBEK
the Netherlands/Georgia, 104 min.
directed by Ineke Smits
written by Arthur Japin
produced by Els VandevorstZAD KADAR
VOICE OVER
Bulgaria, 107 min.
directed by Svetoslav Ovcharov
written by Hristo Totev & Svetoslav Ovcharov
produced by Galina Toneva & Kiril Kirilov
Hilary Swank & Darren Aronofsky: Gotham Awards Tributes
The Independent Filmmaker Project (website), the oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers in the United States, announced today that director Darren Aronofsky, actors Hilary Swank and Robert Duvall, and producer/executive James Schamus will be presented with career tributes at the 20th Gotham Independent Film Awards on Monday, Nov. 29, at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.
The Gotham Awards signal the official beginning of awards season in the US. Last year’s Gotham Award winner for Best Film, Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, went on to win the Best Picture Oscar as well.
The Gotham tribute recipients usually consist of talent/executives with a link to a movie with Oscar potential. This year, veteran Robert Duvall is a possible Best Actor contender for Get Low; Hilary Swank could get a Best Actress nod for the upcoming Conviction; the Gothams’ 1998 Breakthrough Director Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan has already received quite a bit of awards-season buzz; and James Schamus, winner of the Producer Award in 1997, is the CEO of Focus Features’, which distributed likely Best Film contender The Kids Are All Right.
Previous Gotham tribute recipients include actors Stanley Tucci, Natalie Portman, Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz and Kate Winslet; filmmakers Mira Nair, Gus Van Sant, Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese; executives Sheila Nevins (HBO Documentaries) and Jonathan Sehring (IFC Films); and film critic Roger Ebert.
The Gothams’ seven competitive awards are: Best Feature, Best Documentary, Breakthrough Director, Breakthrough Actor, Best Ensemble Performance, Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You, in addition to the new Festival Genius Audience Award.
Nominations for the 20th Gotham Independent Film Awards will be announced on October 18.
The information below is from the Independent Filmmaker Project’s press release:
A leading man since the 1960s, ROBERT DUVALL (Felix Bush) has specialized in taciturn cowboys, fierce leaders and driven characters of all types. Respected by his peers and adored by audiences worldwide, he has earned numerous Oscar® nominations for his performances in The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, The Great Santini and The Apostle. Duvall won the Academy Award® as Best Actor for his role in Tender Mercies, and later earned the Golden Globe for his performance in the title role of HBO‘s Stalin. More recently, Duvall was honored with the Golden Globe and Emmy Award for his iconic portrayal of Print Ritter in AMC‘s Broken Trail. Duvall made his big screen debut in 1962, as the creepy Boo Radley in To Kill A Mockingbird. He has gone on to star in such classics as Bullitt, True Grit, M*A*S*H, The Conversation, Network, The Natural, Colors, Days Of Thunder, A Handmaid’s Tale, Rambling Rose, Wrestling Ernest Hemingway, Phenomenon, A Civil Action, Open Range, and Thank You For Smoking, among many others. As a director and producer, Duvall got behind the camera for his labor of love project The Apostle in which he also starred. The film went on to earn many accolades, including being named on over seventy-five film critics and Top 10 Films for 1997 lists. He also wrote, produced and starred in Assassination Tango. Duvall was most recently seen as the Old Man in The Road, based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy and Get Low.
HILARY SWANK is the third youngest woman in history to win two Academy Awards® for “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.” In addition to the Oscar for her performance in Boys Don’t Cry, Swank won the Golden Globe Award, The New York Film Critics Circle, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association, The Chicago Film Critics and The Broadcast Film Critics Association awards for Best Actress. Swank then appeared in Sam Raimi’s, The Gift, in Christopher Nolan’s, Insomnia, and in the acclaimed HBO telefilm Iron Jawed Angels for which she was honored with both SAG and Golden Globe nominations for her performance. In 2004, Swank starred opposite Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman as the title character in Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby. For this performance, she was honored with her second Academy Award® for Best Actress and also garnered prizes from the National Society of Film Critics, the Screen Actors Guild, The Broadcast Film Critics, and a Golden Globe for “Best Lead Actress in a Drama.” Swank has since starred in PS I Love You, Freedom Writers and this year’s much anticipated, Conviction, in which she plays Betty Anne Waters, a true life hero and mother who spent 18 years working her way through school to get her brother released from prison for a wrongful murder conviction.
DARREN ARONOFSKY exploded on the independent film scene with his 1998 Sundance Film Festival-winning film, ?, where he received the Best Director award as well as accolades across the independent film world, winning the 1998 Breakthrough Directing Award from the Gotham Independent Film Awards as well as an Independent Spirit Award. Aronofsky then went on to direct the films Requiem for a Dream, for which Ellen Burstyn received both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award® nomination; The Fountain, starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz and The Wrestler, which garnered Academy Award® nominations for its stars Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei and won Best Picture at the Independent Spirit Awards. Aronofsky’s upcoming film, Black Swan, which will be released in December, stars Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassell, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey and Winona Ryder. Black Swan opened the 2010 Venice Film Festival and received critical acclaim at this year’s Toronto Film Festival.
An integral contributor to the American independent film business for over two decades, JAMES SCHAMUS has the unique distinction of being an award-winning screenwriter and producer who is also a film executive. Additionally, he is Professor in Columbia University’s School of the Arts, where he teaches film history and theory. His published work in the field includes “Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Gertrud: The Moving Word,” published in 2008. Prior to the formation of Focus Features, Schamus was co-president of the independent film production company Good Machine, which he co-founded in 1991. Schamus and his partners at the company produced over 40 films during an 11-year period, in partnership with filmmakers such as Ang Lee, Todd Solondz, and Nicole Holofcener. Through its financing and distribution arm, Good Machine International, the company represented dozens more filmmakers, among them Pedro Almodóvar and the Coen Brothers. Good Machine was honored with a 10-year retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and Schamus was honored with the 1996 Gotham Award for Producing with his producing partner Ted Hope. Schamus is also a screenwriter, and received Academy Award® nominations in the Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Song categories for his work on Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. The blockbuster film, which Schamus co-wrote and executive-produced, won 4 Academy Awards®.
Schamus has had a long collaboration as writer and producer with Ang Lee on eleven feature films including Focus’ Brokeback Mountain, which won 3 Academy Awards®, 4 Golden Globes, 4 BAFTAs, and the Producers Guild of America’s top prize, the [Darryl F. Zanuck] Producer of the Year Award; Taking Woodstock; Lust, Caution; The Hulk; Ride with the Devil; The Ice Storm; The Wedding Banquet; Eat Drink Man Woman; and Pushing Hands. Schamus executive-produced several Good Machine features that won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, including Edward Burns’ The Brothers McMullen, Tom Noonan’s What Happened Was…, and Todd Haynes’ Poison. Schamus was honored with the NBC Screenwriter Tribute at the 2002 Nantucket Film Festival as well as with the Writers Guild of America, East’s 2003 Richard B. Jablow Award for devoted service to the Guild.
Focus’ celebrated releases have included seven more Academy Award® winners: Gus Van Sant’s Milk, Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation, Roman Polanski’s The Pianist, Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Walter Salles’ The Motorcycle Diaries, and Joe Wright’s Atonement; and Henry Selick’s Coraline, Joel and Ethan Coen’s Burn After Reading and A Serious Man, Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice, Todd Haynes’ Far from Heaven, François Ozon’s Swimming Pool, and Alejandro González Iñárritu’s 21 Grams. Domestically, the current Focus Features slate includes Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right; Anton Corbijn’s The American; Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s It’s Kind of a Funny Story; and Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere, which won the Golden Lion Award for Best Picture at the 2010 Venice International Film Festival.
Photos: Get Low (Sony Pictures Classics); Conviction (Fox Searchlight).
1 comment
It’s Kind of a Funny Story; and Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere, which won the Golden Lion Award for Best Picture at the 2010 Venice International Film Festival.