Joy Division Movie Tops British Indie Film Awards + ‘Wild’ Gotham Winners

Joy Division movie tops British Independent Film Awards

Dutch photographer-turned-filmmaker Anton Corbijn’s Control, a black-and-white drama about troubled Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, won five trophies – including best film, best director, and best debut director – at the British Independent Film Awards held tonight at the Roundhouse in London.

Corbijn had photographed Joy Division numerous times back in the late 1970s, and in 1988 directed the video for their song “Atmosphere.” (Ian Curtis committed suicide at the age of 23 in 1980.)

Former warehouse worker Sam Riley, who was picked for the lead role in Control, lost the best actor award to Viggo Mortensen’s Russian mafioso in David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises but was chosen most promising newcomer, while Toby Kebbell took best supporting performer honors for his performance as Joy Division’s manager Rob Gretton.

Among the other winners were best actress Judi Dench, for her gutsy performance as a manipulative lesbian teacher in Notes on a Scandal; Patrick Marber, who won for his uneven screenplay for the same film; best foreign film The Lives of Others, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s overwrought spy melodrama that several months ago won an array of awards including the 2007 Oscar; and best documentary Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten, Julien Temple’s take on the punk rock band The Clash musician Joe Strummer, who died of a heart attack five years ago.

2007 British Independent Film Awards

The 2007 British Independent Film Award nominees were announced at the Haymarket Hotel in London on Oct. 23.

The 2007 British Independent Film Award winners were announced at the Roundhouse in London on Nov. 28.

Jury:
Hayley Atwell
Mark Herbert
Will Clarke
Nitin Sawhney
Neil Marshall
Menhaj Huda
Annie Griffin
Matthew MacFadyen
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Tony Curran
Kathy Burke
Archie Panjabi
Peter Webber
Brian Tufano
Sandra Hebron

Gotham Awards Winners: ‘Into the Wild’

Held for the first time in Brooklyn, at Steiner Studios’ Stage 3, the New York-based Independent Film Project’s 2007 Gotham Awards for American independent films (despite last year’s inclusion of The Departed, Marie Antoinette, etc.) wasn’t dominated by any particular production – perhaps because there aren’t that many Gotham Awards to go around: six in all.

Sean Penn’s Into the Wild took best feature honors, but that was it for the drama about a young man (breakthrough actor nominee Emile Hirsch) who makes some seriously wrong choices while in the Alaskan wilderness.

Michael Moore’s Sicko, a semi-finalist for this year’s Best Documentary Oscar, won in the non-fiction category. Sicko is Moore’s controversial look at the (ultra) expensive but inadequate health care system in the United States. (According to Bilge Ebiri in New York Magazine, “one could palpably sense the jovial air in the room getting sucked out when Best Documentary went to Michael Moore’s Sicko over numerous other acclaimed, lower-profile films.”)

Ellen Page was chosen breakthrough performer of 2007 for her performance as a pregnant teenager looking for the right parents for her upcoming baby, while Craig Zobel was the best breakthrough director for Great World of Sound, a comedy about a record company’s talent scouting scheme.

The best ensemble award went to two films, Sidney Lumet’s thriller Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, starring Ethan Hawke, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Albert Finney, Marisa Tomei, among others, and Talk to Me, Kasi Lemmons’ drama about an ex-con-turned-talk show host in the 1960s, with Don Cheadle, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Martin Sheen, and others.

Ronald Bronstein’s comedy Frownland, about a door-to-door salesman, took the Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You award. Earlier this year, Frownland won the Special Jury Award at the SXSW Film Festival.

Film reviewer Roger Ebert, one of the evening’s special honorees, was on hand to accept introductions by Sidney Lumet (in person) and Martin Scorsese (on video). Due to his recent cancer surgeries, Ebert was unable to talk. His wife, Chaz, spoke for him.

Another special honoree, IFC Entertainment president Jonathan Sehring, remarked that his company releases films at movie houses and on DVD simultaneously because “the rest of the country deserves what we have in New York.”

Stockholm Film Festival winners

Cristian Mungiu’s Romanian abortion drama 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days received the Bronze Horse for best film at the 2007 edition of the Stockholm Film Festival.

Mungiu’s drama about a young woman helping a friend to undergo an illegal abortion during the Nicolae Ceausescu era was chosen for its depiction of a “strictly controlled society” along which “lies horrifying tests for body and soul.”

At the awards ceremony held this evening, the film also earned Best Actress honors for Anamaria Marinca, who, as per the Stockholm jury chaired by U.S. filmmaker Tom Kalin, is “never sentimental, [is] always sharply specific” and “brings empathy and complexity to her role.”

Earlier this year, 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The film is Romania’s entry for the 2007 foreign-language film Academy Award.

Jason Patric was the best actor winner for his portrayal of a parking officer whose job serves as an outlet for all his frustrations – that is, until he meets a sweet meter maid (Samantha Morton) – in Cecilia Miniucchi’s Expired. According to the jury, “it is rare in film that a deeply flawed and potentially unsympathetic character can evoke such depth of emotion. Beneath his prickly exterior and commanding physicality, we experience a fully realized character, balanced between comedy and tragedy.”

Jason Reitman’s Juno, starring Ellen Page as a pregnant young woman in search of adoptive parents for her upcoming baby was the audience award winner, while the FIPRESCI (International Film Critics) prize went to Nadine Labaki’s slight but charming Caramel, about a group of women and their romantic troubles in today’s Beirut. Caramel is Lebanon’s foreign-language film entry for the next Academy Awards.

18th Stockholm Film Festival

The 2007 Stockholm Film Festival Award was held between Nov. 15-25.

The 2007 Stockholm Film Festival Award winners were announced on Saturday, Nov. 24.

Bronze Horse for Best Feature 2007: 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days by Cristian Mungiu

Best Actor: Jason Patric for Expired

Best Actress: Anamaria Marinca (above, left) for 4 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days

Best First Feature: Rodrigo Plá for The Zone

Honoroble Mention, Best First Feature: Anton Corbijn for Control

Best Screenplay: Carlos Reygadas for Silent Light

Best Cinematography: Janusz Kaminski for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Best Music: Oliver Bernet for Persepolis

Best Short Film: Pathways (Mish’ Olim) by Hagar Ben-Asher

FIPRESCI (international federation of film critics) Award: Caramel by Nadine Labaki

OTHER AWARDS

Star! Audience Award: Juno by Jason Reitman

1 Km Film 2007: Andreas Tibblin for När Elvis kom på besök

Honorable Mention 1 Km Film: Alexandra Dahlström for Lacrimosa

ifestival: Two Times Now by Michalis Konstantatos

Let’s Make a Film Competition: Niklas Fröberg

Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award 2007: Paul Schrader, who “possesses a unique voice, which gives life to sharp, relentless characters in a modern city. Schrader’s images of an urban jungle are drawn with intellectual clarity, and he never hesitates to push his characters to their limits. With the linguistic brilliance of a screenwriter and a director’s eye for visuals, Paul Schrader has helped advance the cinematic medium for over three decades.”

Stockholm Visionary Award 2007: Wes Anderson, “for his humane and humoristic portraits of solitary human beings. In his films, he creates unique and stylized universes inhabited by characters searching for something to search for. Through his visionary filmmaking, Anderson has given a modern face to the classic ‘auteur.'”

Jury: Tom Kalin (chair), Tova Magnusson-Norling, Mikael Marcimain, Lia Boysen, and Mikael Flodell

FIPRESCI Jury: Stephen Locke (Germany), Gorazd Trusnovec (Slovenia) and Geir Kamsvåg (Norway)

28th Blue Dragon Awards

The 28th Blue Dragon Film Awards cover Korean films released between November 2006 and October 2007.

The 28th Blue Dragon Film Award winners were announced at the National Theater of Korea in Seoul, on November 23, 2007.

Han Jae-rim’s violent gangster comedy-drama-action flick The Show Must Go On took top honors at the 28th Blue Dragon Awards. The film stars best actor winner Song Kang-ho — who also starred in last year’s Blue Dragon winner, The Host — as a small-time gangster trying to land his first big deal. At home, however, the tough gangster is put in his place by his fed-up wife. As the story progresses, things take on a rather dark tone. The Blue Dragon for best actress went to Cannes Film Festival winner Jeon Do-yeon (photo, below) for her performance in Secret Sunshine, Korea’s entry for this year’s foreign-language film Academy Award.

BEST FILM
Voice of a Murderer, Park Jin-pyo
200 Pounds Beauty, Kim Yong-hwa
* The Show Must Go On, Han Jae-rim
Happiness, Hur Jin-ho
May 18, Kim Ji-hoon

BEST DIRECTOR
Han Jae-rim (The Show Must Go On)
* Hur Jin-ho (Happiness)
Kim Ji-hoon (May 18)
Kim Yong-hwa (200 Pounds Beauty)
Park Jin-pyo (Voice of a Murderer)

BEST ACTOR
Sol Kyung-gu (Voice of a Murderer)
* Song Kang-ho (The Show Must Go On)
Hwang Jung-min (Happiness)
Kim Sang-kyung (May 18)
Joo Jin-mo (Love)

BEST ACTRESS
* Jeon Do-yeon (Secret Sunshine)
Kim Ah-jung (200 Pounds Beauty)
Lim Soo-jung (Happiness)
Lee Yo-won (May 18)
Song Hye-kyo (Hwang Jin Yi)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Park Chul-min (May 18)
Jo Han-sun (Cruel Winter Blues)
Kim Min-joon (Love)
* Kim Sang-ho (The Happy Life)
Kim Young-cheol (My Father)
Sung Ji-ru (Paradise Murdered)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
* Na Moon-hee (Cruel Winter Blues)
Park Sol-mi (Paradise Murdered)
Park Si-yeon (Love)
Yoo Seon (Black House)
Lim Jeong-eun (Shadows in the Palace)

BEST NEW DIRECTOR
Lee Jeong-beom (Cruel Winter Blues)
Jung Brothers (Epitath)
Kim Mi-jung (Shadows in the Palace)
* Kim Han-min (Paradise Murdered)
Hwang Dong-hyeuk (My Father)

BEST NEW ACTOR
* Daniel Henney (My Father)
Rain (I’m a Cyborg, But That’s Okay)
Yoo Ah-in (Shim’s Family)
Lee Min-ki (A Day for an Affair)
Jang Geun-seok (The Happy Life)

BEST NEW ACTRESS
Kim Tae-hee (The Restless)
Lee Tae-ran (Love Exposure)
* Jung Ryeo-won (The Two Faces of My Girlfriend)
Han Ji-min (The Cut)
Hwang Bo-ra (Shim’s Family)

BEST SCREENPLAY
Kim Yong-hwa (200 Pounds Beauty)
Han Jae-rim (The Show Must Go On)
Hur Jin-ho, Lee Soo-yeon, Seo Yoo-min, Sin Joon-ho (Happiness)
Nah Hyun (May 18)
* Kim Han-min (Paradise Murdered)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Happiness
May 18
* Epitath
Hwang Jin Yi
Paradise Murdered

BEST LIGHTING
Happiness
Epitaph
Shadows in the Palace
Black House
* Hwang Jin Yi

BEST MUSIC
200 Pounds Beauty
The Show Must Go On
Happiness
* The Happy Life
Shim’s Family

BEST ART DIRECTION
May 18
The Restless
Hwang Jin Yi
I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK
* Epitath

BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS
Epitath
D-WAR
Hwang Jin Yi
* The Restless

BAFTA Scotland Awards: James McAvoy received some (early) awards season recognition

The 2007 BAFTA Scotland (or Scottish Bafta) award winners were announced at City Halls in Glasgow on Nov. 18.

The Last King of Scotland, an early 2007 release in the United Kingdom, was the big winner at the 2007 BAFTA Scotland awards. Directed by Kevin Macdonald and written by Peter Morgan and Jeremy Brock, the fictional drama revolves around the complex relationship between a Scottish doctor (BAFTA winner James McAvoy) and Uganda dictator Idi Amin Dada (Forest Whitaker). The American Whitaker despite having received raves and assorted awards elsewhere earlier in the year (as a 2006 release in the U.S.) was deemed ineligible for the Scottish BAFTAs, as the awards are geared to promote local talent.

BAFTA Scotland winners & nominations (partial list)

FILM

Best Film
Hallam Foe, dir.: David Mackenzie; prod.: Gillian Berrie.
* The Last King of Scotland, dir.: Kevin Macdonald; prod.: Lisa Bryer, Andrea Calderwood & Charles Steel.
Seachd – The Inaccessible Pinnacle, dir.: Simon Miller; prod.: Christopher Young.

Best Actor
Jamie Bell, Hallam Foe.
* James McAvoy, The Last King of Scotland.
Aonghas Padraig Caimbeul (Angus Peter Campbell), Seachd – The Inaccessible Pinnacle.

Best Actress
* Sophia Myles, Hallam Foe.

Best Screenplay
Ed Whitmore & David Mackenzie, Hallam Foe.
* Peter Morgan & Jeremy Brock, The Last King of Scotland.
Simon Miller, Jo Cockwell, Ishbel T MacDonald, Iain F MacLeod & Aonghas MacNeacail, Seachd – The Inaccessible Pinnacle.

Best Animation
Haunted Hogmanay, dir.: Neil Jack; prod.: Cameron Fraser.
* Potapych – The Bear Who Loved Vodka, dir.: Darren Price; prod.: Nicola Black.
Two Dreams, dir. & prod.: Anders Jedenfors & Jamie Stone.

Best Short Film
Breadmakers, dir.: Yasmin Fedda; prod.: Robin Mitchell & Jim Hickey.
Butterfly, dir.: Yulia Mahr; prod.: Sonja Henrici.
* Losing Myself: Annie, dir.: Alice Nelson; prod.: Sarah Tierney.

TELEVISION

Best Drama
Consenting Adults, dir.: Richard Curson Smith; prod.: Robert Dawson Scott.
* Rebus, creator: Ian Rankin.
Wedding Belles, dir.: Philip John; prod.: Jemma Rodgers.

Best Documentary
* Black Watch – A Soldiers Story, dir. & prod.: Iain Scollay.
Life’s Too Short, dir.: David Peat; prod.: Beatrix Alexander.
Stephen Fry: HIV & Me, dir. & prod.: Ross Wilson.

Best Actor 
* Sean Biggerstaff, Consenting Adults.
Sanjeev Kohli, Still Game.
Bill Paterson, Sea of Souls.

Best Actress 
Michelle Gomez, Wedding Belles.
* Jane McCarry, Still Game.

Best Writing 
* Julian Mitchell, Consenting Adults.
Ford Kiernan & Greg Hemphill, Still Game.
Dean Cavanagh & Irvine Welsh, Wedding Belles.

SPECIAL AWARDS

Special Contribution to Scottish Broadcasting: Mary Marquis.

Special Contribution to Scottish Film: Eddie McConnell.

BAFTA Scotland Award for Craft (In Memory of Robert McCann): Libbie Barr.

Outstanding International Contribution: Craig Armstrong.

The Lloyds TSB Scotland Awards for Most Popular Television Program: Still Game.