The Woodsman with Kevin Bacon: The London Film Festival’s Satyajit Ray Award winner, Nicole Kassell’s The Woodsman chronicles the attempts of a child molester (Bacon) to resume his life after years in prison. But who is either capable or willing to forgive him?- Nicole Kassell’s U.S.-made child molester movie The Woodsman was the London Film Festival’s Satyajit Ray Award winner. Kevin Bacon stars.
- Other London Film Festival winners include Jonathan Caouette’s American documentary Tarnation, and Benoît Delépine and Gustave de Kervern’s Belgian black comedy Aaltra.
London Film Festival’s Satyajit Ray Award goes to Nicole Kassell’s U.S.-made child molester movie The Woodsman, starring Kevin Bacon
This year’s Los Angeles-based AFI FEST hasn’t been the only international film festival to reward work tackling difficult topics. Starring Kevin Bacon as a post-prison-sentence child molester, Nicole Kassell’s U.S.-made big-screen version of Steven Fechter’s play The Woodsman has been named the winner of the London Film Festival’s Satyajit Ray Award for Best First Feature that “reflects the artistry, compassion and humanity” of the late Indian director of Pather Panchali, Aparajito, and The World of Apu.
The Woodsman features Bacon as a convicted pedophile trying to rebuild his life in the Philadelphia area after spending 12 years in jail. Locals, however, are either incapable or unwilling to forgive and forget his past deeds. Both Kassell and Fechter collaborated on the screenplay.
Besides Kevin Bacon, The Woodsman also features Bacon’s off-screen wife Kyra Sedgwick, Benjamin Bratt, David Alan Grier, Michael Shannon, Mos Def, Carlos Leon, and Kevin Rice.
More London Film Festival awards
Another U.S. production, Jonathan Caouette’s autobiographical documentary Tarnation, won the Sutherland Trophy, “awarded to the director of the most original and imaginative first feature.” Tarnation offers a portrait of the filmmaker’s difficult relationship with his mentally ill mother.
Writer-director Amma Asante was given the UK Film Talent Award for her debut feature A Way of Life, the story of a teenage single mother involved in an ethnic feud with a Turkish neighbor.
The FIPRESCI International Critics Award went to actors-writers-directors Benoît Delépine and Gustave de Kervern’s Aaltra, a Belgian black comedy about two (recently) handicapped mortal enemies (Delépine and de Kervern).
And finally, the TCM Classic Shorts Award went to Harry Wootliff’s Nits.
The 2004 London Film Festival ran Oct. 20–Nov. 4.
“Child Molester Drama Wins London Film Festival Award” notes
London Film Festival website.
See also: Socially conscious Moroccan drama given top award at the Carthage Film Festival.
See also: Robin Williams is the next Cecil B. DeMille Award honoree.
Kevin Bacon The Woodsman movie image: Newmarket Films.
“Child Molester Drama Wins London Film Festival Award” last updated in September 2023.