June 13 update: Hollywood took over Broadway at the 2010 Tony Awards. Or almost. Presenters included Daniel Radcliffe and Academy Award winner Helen Mirren, while Oscar winners Denzel Washington and Catherine Zeta-Jones are now Tony winners as well. And so are Scarlett Johansson and (for the second time) Broadway-to-Hollywood-to-Broadway Oscar nominee Viola Davis.
Fences, a revival of August Wilson’s 1987 Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning play earned Best Actor and Best Actress in a Play laurels for, respectively, Denzel Washington (in James Earl Jones’ Tony-winning role) and Viola Davis. (Full list of 2010 Tony Award winners.)
Davis’ previous Tony win, for Best Featured Actress, was for King Hedley II (2001), also written by August Wilson. She’d also been nominated in that same category for Wilson’s Seven Guitars (1996).
Catherine Zeta-Jones was the Best Actress in a Musical for the revival of Hugh Wheeler’s A Little Night Music, itself based on a (non-Hollywood) movie, Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night. Lesley Anne-Down, Diana Rigg, and Elizabeth Taylor starred in Harold Prince’s (unsuccessful) 1977 film adaptation.
Scarlett Johansson’s Tony was for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play, a revival of Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge – which also happened to be Johansson’s Broadway debut. Sidney Lumet directed the 1962 film adaptation, which starred Raf Vallone, Jean Sorel, Maureen Stapleton, and Carol Lawrence. (Although hardly perceived as one of Lumet’s most memorable efforts, the dark drama has a special place in film history for its early “gay” kiss.)
Drama Desk Award winner Red, a two-character drama about the relationship between abstract painter Mark Rothko (played by Alfred Molina) and his (fictional) assistant/aspiring artist (Eddie Redmayne), was chosen the Best Play. Oscar nominee John Logan – for Gladiator and The Aviator – wrote Red. In his Broadway debut, Redmayne, who played opposite Kristen Stewart in The Yellow Handkerchief, was the Best Featured Actor in a Play.
The Best Musical Revival Tony went to La Cage aux folles. Edouard Molinaro’s 1979 film adaptation of the gay-themed comedy, starring Ugo Tognazzi and Michel Serrault, earned three Academy Award nominations, including one for director Molinaro.
Tony presenter Nathan Lane, who stole Bob Hope’s old Oscar joke “as we call it in my house, Passover,” starred in the 1986 US remake of La Cage aux folles, The Birdcage. This year, Lane went nominationless for The Addams Family.
Memphis, an interethnic love story set in Memphis in the early days of rock, was the Best Musical. Can’t think of a movie connection right now, but there’s probably one somewhere.
Photo: Red (Johan Persson)
June 10: Viola Davis, Laura Linney, Valerie Harper, Linda Lavin, Jude Law, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Liev Schreiber, Rosemary Harris, Scarlett Johansson, Christopher Walken, Alfred Molina, Denzel Washington, Kelsey Grammer, and veteran Angela Lansbury are some of the well-known film and television personalities up for a Tony Award this year. Eight of the aforementioned names have either won or been nominated for Academy Awards.
Among the non-nominees expected to attend the show in some capacity or other are Daniel Radcliffe, Anthony LaPaglia, Tony Shalhoub, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, Katie Holmes, Matthew Morrison, Lea Michele, and the punk rock band Green Day.
Nominated new plays, musicals, and revivals include In the Next Room or the vibrator play, American Idiot, A View from the Bridge, Red, A Little Night Music, Finian’s Rainbow, The Royal Family, Next Fall, Fences, La Cage aux Folles, Ragtime, and Memphis.
CBS will broadcast Broadway’s big night at 8 p.m. on Sunday, right from Radio City Musical Hall. Will & Grace‘s Sean Hayes, a best actor in a musical nominee, will host the ceremony.
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY: Scarlett Johansson, A View From the Bridge.
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY: Eddie Redmayne, Red.
BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY: Michael Grandage, Red.
BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL: Terry Johnson, La Cage aux Folles.
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL: Katie Finneran, Promises, Promises.
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL: Levi Kreis, Million Dollar Quartet.
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A PLAY: Viola Davis, Fences.
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY: Denzel Washington, Fences.
BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL: La Cage aux Folles.
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL: Catherine Zeta-Jones, A Little Night Music.
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL: Douglas Hodge, La Cage aux Folles.
BEST MUSICAL: Memphis.
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY: Bill T. Jones, Fela!.
BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY: Fences.
BEST PLAY: Red.
BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL: Memphis.
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE (MUSIC AND/OR LYRICS) WRITTEN FOR THE THEATER: Memphis.
BEST ORCHESTRATIONS: Daryl Waters and David Bryan, Memphis.
BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A PLAY: Christopher Oram, Red.
BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A MUSICAL: Christine Jones, American Idiot.
BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAY: Catherine Zuber, The Royal Family.
BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL: Marina Draghici, Fela!.
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A PLAY: Neil Austin, Red.
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MUSICAL: Kevin Adams, American Idiot.
BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A PLAY: Adam Cork, Red.
BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A MUSICAL: Robert Kaplowitz, Fela!.
SPECIAL TONY AWARD FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN THE THEATER: Alan Ayckbourn and Marian Seldes.
REGIONAL THEATER TONY AWARD: The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Waterford, Conn.
ISABELLE STEVENSON AWARD: David Hyde Pierce.
TONY HONORS FOR EXCELLENCE IN THE THEATER: B.H. Barry and Tim Viola.
Tony Awards website.
Aamir Khan, Sharman Joshi, R. Madhavan, 3 Idiots.
Aamir Khan ‘3 Idiots’ Sweeps Bollywood’s Controversial IIFA Awards
Rajkumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots, an “inspirational” friendship comedy-drama starring Aamir Khan and one of India’s biggest blockbusters, won 16 Indian Film Academy Awards, including best film, best director, and best screenplay. The 2010 IIFA ceremony was held Saturday in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka.
Veteran Amitabh Bachchan was voted best actor for his performance as a 12-year-old suffering from progeria, a disease that accelerates the aging process, in Paa. For their “aging make-up” job, Christien Tinsley and Dominie Till received the Best Make-Up Award.
3 Idiots’ Kareena Kapoor shared the best actress award with Vidya Balan for Paa, while Sharman Joshi was the Best Supporting Actor for 3 Idiots, and Divya Dutta the Best Supporting Actress for Dilli 6.
Hrithik Roshan, Anil Kapoor, Salman Khan, Sanjay Dutt and Preity Zinta were some of the Bollywood stars scheduled to attend the event, but missing in action, among others, were Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Vidya Balan, Shah Rukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan, and Best Actress nominees Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, and Mahie Gill.
Part of the problem may have merely been scheduling issues. But some Bollywood celebrities opted to skip the IFFA Awards this year for political reasons, as film talent from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu had called for a boycott of Sri Lanka to protest military violence against ethnic Tamils in that country.
Approximately 300,000 Tamils, displaced by the decades-long civil war that came to a close only months ago, have been detained in camps erected by the Sri Lankan government.
According to the CBC, “the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce has even threatened to boycott movies starring or made by those who attend the awards in Colombo.”
Veteran actor Shatrughan Sinha, who was present at the IFAA, was quoted on the BBC as saying: “We are not representing north, east, west or south India, but I am representing the whole of India for that matter as a world citizen… And our only caste, our only religion, is entertainment.”
At the ceremony, Sinha remarked, “I want to congratulate everyone who didn’t give in to protests and threats and braved it to Colombo.” But according to a Reuters report, “the empty seats in front of him told a different story.”
Next year, the IIFA will be held in Toronto.
See also: Lanka Times, NDTV, Hindustan Times.
Photos: Paa (AB Corp), 3 Idiots (Reliance Big Pictures)
AMPAS Members Roster Gets New Blood
Oscar winners Christoph Waltz (above), Mo’Nique, Geoffrey Fletcher, Bob Murawski, Mark Boal, and Davis Guggenheim (right), and Oscar nominees Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Neill Blomkamp, Carey Mulligan, Gabourey Sidibe, Saoirse Ronan, Lee Daniels, Nick Hornby, and Jeremy Renner are some of the 135 film industryites invited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Those who accept the invitation will be the only additions in 2010 to the Academy’s roster of voting members.
Other invitees include Avatar‘s Zoe Saldana (but not Sam Worthington), James Gandolfini (his Welcome to the Rileys co-star Kristen Stewart will likely be invited in the very near future), Ryan Reynolds, and Adam Sandler, whose Grown Ups opened Friday to surprisingly good business.
Both Miguel Ferrer and Sam Robards are children of Academy Award winners. The former is the son of Best Actor winner Jose Ferrer (Cyrano de Bergerac, 1950) and Rosemary Clooney; the latter is the son of two-time Best Supporting Actor winner Jason Robards (All the President’s Men, 1976; Julia, 1977) and Oscar nominee Lauren Bacall (The Mirror Has Two Faces, 1996).
Also: cinematographers Barry Ackroyd and Christian Berger (nominated this year for, respectively, The Hurt Locker and The White Ribbon), costume designer Catherine Leterrier (Avenue Montaigne), musicians Bono and T Bone Burnett, documentary filmmakers Rick Goldsmith and Morgan Spurlock, and directors Juan Jose Campanella, Jacques Audiard, and Claudia Llosa (photo).
Campanella’s The Secret in Their Eyes won this year’s Best Foreign Language Film Oscar; Audiard’s A Prophet and Llosa’s The Milk of Sorrow were nominated.
And finally, nine p.r. people and no less than 11 film executives – more than any other branch except the actors’ (with 20) and visual effects (12).
As per the Academy’s press release, “the Academy’s membership policies would have allowed a maximum of 180 new members in 2010, but as in other recent years, the several branch committees endorsed fewer candidates than were proposed to them. Voting membership in the organization has now held steady at just under 6,000 members since 2003.”
The release adds that “new members will be welcomed into the Academy at an invitation-only reception at the Academy’s Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study in Beverly Hills in September.”
The 2010 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences invitees are:
Actors
Tobin Bell – Saw, The Firm
Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air, The Departed
Miguel Ferrer – Traffic, RoboCop
James Gandolfini – In the Loop, Get Shorty
Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air, Twilight
Mo’Nique – Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, Phat Girlz
Carey Mulligan (right) – An Education, Public Enemies
Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker, 28 Weeks Later
Ryan Reynolds – The Proposal, X-Men Origins: Wolverine
LaTanya Richardson Jackson – Mother and Child, Losing Isaiah
Peter Riegert – Traffic, Crossing Delancey
Sam Robards – A.I. Artificial Intelligence, American Beauty
Saoirse Ronan – The Lovely Bones, Atonement
Zoe Saldana – Avatar, Star Trek
Adam Sandler – Funny People, Punch-Drunk Love
Peter Sarsgaard – An Education, Boys Don’t Cry
Gabourey Sidibe – Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Shaun Toub – Iron Man, The Kite Runner
Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds
George Wyner – A Serious Man, American Pie 2
Animators
Ken Bielenberg – Monsters vs Aliens, Shrek
Peter de Seve – Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Ratatouille
Steve Hickner – Bee Movie, The Prince of Egypt: The Sands of Time
Angus MacLane – Toy Story 3, WALL-E
Darragh O’Connell – Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty, Give Up Yer Aul Sins
Simon Otto – How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda
Bob Pauley – Toy Story 3, Monsters, Inc.
Willem Thijssen – The Aroma of Tea, A Greek Tragedy
Art Directors
Kim Sinclair – Avatar, Cast Away
Dave Warren – Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Bridget Joness’ Diary
At-Large
Darcy Antonellis
John Lowry
Casting Directors
Laura Rosenthal – The Messenger, I’m Not There
Cinematographers
Barry Ackroyd – The Hurt Locker, United 93
Christian Berger – The White Ribbon, Cache
Hagen Bogdanski – The Young Victoria, The Lives of Others
Shane Hurlbut – Terminator Salvation, We Are Marshall
Tom Hurwitz – Valentino The Last Emperor, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib
Dan Mindel – Star Trek, Mission: Impossible III
Tobias Schliessler – The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, Hancock
Stephen Windon – The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, House of Wax
Robert Yeoman – Get Him to the Greek, The Squid and the Whale
Costume Designers
Catherine Leterrier – Coco before Chanel, Avenue Montaigne
Janet Patterson – Bright Star, The Piano
Directors
Jacques Audiard – A Prophet, The Beat That My Heart Skipped
Juan Jose Campanella – The Secret in Their Eyes, “Son of the Bride”
Lee Daniels – Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, Shadowboxer
Claudia Llosa – The Milk of Sorrow, Madeinusa
Lone Scherfig – An Education, Italian for Beginners
Adam Shankman – Bedtime Stories, Hairspray
Documentary
Nancy Baker – Rehearsing a Dream, Born into Brothels
Rick Goldsmith – The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press
Davis Guggenheim – It Might Get Loud, An Inconvenient Truth
Tia Lessin – Capitalism: A Love Story, Trouble the Water
Cara Mertes – The Betrayal, My Country, My Country
Frazer Pennebaker – Al Franken: God Spoke, The War Room
Julia Reichert (photo) – The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant, Seeing Red
Morgan Spurlock – Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?, Super Size Me
Executives
Christopher W. Aronson
Jim Berk
Philippe Dauman
Sheila DeLoach
Donald Peter Granger
Nathan Kahane
Andrew Karpen
Ryan Kavanaugh
David Kosse
David Andrew Spitz
Emma Watts
Film Editors
Robert Frazen – Synecdoche, New York, Smart People
Dana E. Glauberman – Up in the Air, Thank You for Smoking
Joe Klotz – Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, Grace Is Gone
Bob Murawski – The Hurt Locker, Spider-Man
John Refoua – Avatar, Reno 911!: Miami
Live Action Short Films
Joachim Back – The New Tenants
Gregg Helvey – Kavi, The Knife Grinder’s Tale
Make-Up Artists and Hairstylists
Kris Evans – X-Men The Last Stand Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Jane Galli – Knight and Day, 3:10 to Yuma
Mindy Hall – Star Trek, World Trade Center
Joel Harlow – Star Trek, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Jenny Shircore – The Young Victoria, Elizabeth
Music
Christophe Beck – The Hangover, Bring It On
Bono – Gangs of New York, In the Name of the Father
T Bone Burnett – Crazy Heart, Cold Mountain
The Edge – Gangs of New York, “GoldenEye”
Brian Tyler – Fast & Furious, Aliens vs. Predator Requiem
Producers
Stephanie Allain – Black Snake Moan, Hustle & Flow
Gregory Jacobs – The Informant!, The Good German
Jon Landau – Avatar, Titanic
Marc Turtletaub – Away We Go, Little Miss Sunshine
Glenn Williamson – Sunshine Cleaning, Hollywoodland
Production Designers
Kirk M. Pertruccelli – The Incredible Hulk, The Patriot
Edward S. Verreaux – G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Jurassic Park III
Public Relations
Dwight Caines
Suzanne M. Cole
Tommy Gargotta
Sophie Gluck
Josh Greenstein
Pamela Levine
Wendy Lightbourn
Michele Robertson
Tony Sella
Set Decorators
Maggie Gray – The Young Victoria, Ella Enchanted
Douglas A. Mowat – Role Models, The Sixth Sense
Caroline Smith – The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Match Point
Sound
Frank Eulner – Iron Man 2, Hellboy
Adam Jenkins – I Love You Man, Crash
Tony Lamberti – “Inglourious Basterds,” Sideways
Dennis Leonard – Disney’s A Christmas Carol, The Polar Express
Tom Myers – Up, WALL-E
Paul N.J. Ottosson – The Hurt Locker, Spider-Man 3
Resul Pookutty – Ghajini, Slumdog Millionaire
Gary A. Rizzo – How to Train Your Dragon, The Dark Knight
Michael Silvers – Up, Ratatouille
Gwendolyn Yates Whittle – Avatar, “The Simpsons Movie”
Visual Effects
Matt Aitken – District 9, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Karen Ansel – Angels & Demons, Men in Black II
Richard Baneham (photo) – Avatar, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Eric Barba – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Zodiac
Paul Debevec – Avatar, King Kong
Russell Earl – Star Trek, Transformers
Steve Galich – Date Night, “Transformers”
Andrew R. Jones – Avatar, I, Robot
Dan Kaufman – District 9, Ocean’s Thirteen
Derek Spears – The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Superman Returns
Steve Sullivan – Avatar, Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
Michael J. Wassel – Hellboy II: The Golden Army, The Bourne Identity
Writers
Neill Blomkamp – District 9
Mark Boal – The Hurt Locker, In the Valley of Elah
Geoffrey Fletcher – Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Nick Hornby – An Education, Fever Pitch
Alex Kurtzman – Star Trek, Mission: Impossible III
Tom McCarthy – Up, The Visitor
Roberto Orci – Star Trek, Mission: Impossible III
Terri Tatchell – District 9
Photos: Richard Baneham (Todd Wawrychuk / © A.M.P.A.S.), Julia Reichert (Matt Petit / © A.M.P.A.S.), Carey Mulligan (Michael Yada / © A.M.P.A.S.)
Photos: Todd Wawrychuk / © A.M.P.A.S. (Claudia Llosa, Christoph Waltz), Davis Guggenheim (Courtesy of AMPAS).
Oscar Ceremony to Move to January?
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is currently considering moving up the date of the Oscar ceremony from late February to as early as January. (Deadline.com broke the news on Tuesday.)
There’s no official reason for the move, but the Academy clearly wants better television ratings for its show. This year, 41.7 million people watched at least part of the Oscarcast, which pitted Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker against James Cameron’s mega-blockbuster Avatar. Two years ago, the number of viewers bottomed out at 31.7 million. That’s when Joel and Ethan Coen’s No Country for Old Men won the Best Picture Oscar. Ratings, however, have remained either below or hovering around 25 percent for the last ten years.
An Academy statement released today read:
“There are a number of questions still to be answered and challenges to be addressed with regard to moving the show to an earlier date. The academy governors and staff have been and will continue to look into those questions and challenges. No decision has been made and there is currently no timetable for when a decision might be made.”
In 2011, the Oscarcast will take place on Feb. 27. The move – in case it does happen – would take effect at the earliest in 2012.
Photo: AMPAS
Los Angeles Film Festival Awards: ‘A Family,’ ‘Four Lions’ & ‘Thunder Soul’
Four Lions, about a group of klutzy terrorists out to ruin the London Marathon, won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival. Four Lions features Riz Ahmed, Arsher Ali, and Nigel Lindsay, among others.
Roberto Hernandez and Geoffrey Smith’s Mexican documentary Presumed Guilty took home the Audience Award for Best International Feature, while the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature went to Marc Landsman’s Thunder Soul.
Presumed Guilty takes a trip down Mexico’s putrid justice system; Thunder Soul remembers the 1970s high-school band Kashmere Stage Band.
On Saturday, it was announced that Pernille Fisher Christensen’s Danish drama En Famille / A Family was the Los Angeles Film Festival Jury’s choice for Best Narrative Feature and J. Clay Tweel’s Make Believe, about young competing magicians, was the Best Documentary Feature.
Pernille Fischer Christensen’s Danish drama En Familie / A Family and J. Clay Tweel’s Make Believe were the top winners of Film Independent’s Los Angeles Film Festival 2010 awards.
In Best Narrative Feature A Family, a proud patriarch wants his daughter to take over the family’s bakery business; the woman, however, has a job waiting for her in New York.
Best Documentary Feature Make Believe shows six teenagers competing for the title of Teen World Champion at the World Magic Seminar in Las Vegas.
Other LAFF 2010 winners were Sabrina Lloyd, James Urbaniak, Lynn Cohen, Harry Chase, Nate Smith and Kamel Boutros for their ensemble performance in Adam Reid’s Hello Lonesome; Pablo Larcuen’s My Invisible Friend for Best Narrative Short Film; Tomasz Wolski’s The Lucky One for Best Documentary Short Film; and Beomsik Shimbe Shim’s Wonder Hospital for Best Animated Short Film.
The Narrative Feature Competition jury was comprised of director Charles Burnett, screenwriter/producer Larry Karaszewski, and LA Weekly film critic Ella Taylor.
The Documentary Feature Competition jury was comprised of director/actress Karen Moncrieff, director Arthur Dong, and film critic and journalist Robert Abele.
The Shorts Competition jury was comprised of writer/performer Sandra Tsing Loh, actor Andrew Garfield, and director Tommy O’Haver.
Audience award winners will be announced tomorrow afternoon at the Closing Night film, Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin’s Despicable Me.
Photos: Los Angeles Film Festival
Student Academy Awards
Dried Up, Jeremy Casper, Isaiah Powers.
The ranking of the winners at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 2010 Student Academy Awards was announced on Sat., June 12 at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Presenters at the ceremony included Jeremy Renner, Henry Selick, and Penelope Spheeris. (Image: Tanel Toom, director of the Honorary Foreign Film winner The Confession.)
According to the Academy’s press release, “while U.S. winners knew they would each receive an award, their placement – Gold, Silver or Bronze – was not revealed until the ceremony. Gold Medal award winners received cash grants of $5,000, Silver Medal award winners received $3,000 and Bronze Medal award winners received $2,000. The Honorary Foreign Film winner received a $1,000 cash grant.”
Honorary Foreign Film winner The Confession was selected from a pool of 61 entries representing 36 countries.
The Academy established the Student Academy Awards in 1972 “to support and encourage excellence in filmmaking at the collegiate level.”
The 2010 winners are:
Alternative*
- Gold Medal: “Surface: Film from Below,” Varathit Uthaisri, Parsons The New School for Design, New York
- Silver Medal: “Multiply,” Emily Henricks, University of Southern California
* Only two medals were awarded in the Alternative category.
Animation
- Gold Medal: “Departure of Love,” Jennifer Bors, Ringling College of Art and Design, Florida
- Silver Medal: “Dried Up,” Isaiah Powers and Jeremy Casper, Kansas City Art Institute, Missouri
- Bronze Medal: “Lifeline,” Andres Salaff, California Institute of the Arts
Documentary
- Gold Medal: “Yizkor (Remembrance),” Ruth Fertig, University of Texas at Austin
- Silver Medal: “Rediscovering Pape,” Maria Royo, City College of New York
- Bronze Medal: “Dreams Awake (Suena Despierto),” Kevin Gordon and Rebekah Meredith, Stanford University, California
Narrative
- Gold Medal: “God of Love,” Luke Matheny, New York University
- Silver Medal: “Down in Number 5,” Kim Spurlock, New York University
- Bronze Medal: “The Lunch Box,” Lubomir Kocka, Savannah College of Art and Design, Georgia
Honorary Foreign Film
- “The Confession,” Tanel Toom, The National Film and Television School, Beaconsfield, United Kingdom
Photos: Movie images courtesy AMPAS; Tanel Toom (Todd Wawrychuk / © A.M.P.A.S.)
June 15 update: Last week, the 2010 Student Academy Awards winners spent time with members of the American Society of Cinematographers. The Student Academy Awards ceremony took place at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Saturday, June 12. Presenters at the ceremony included Jeremy Renner, Henry Selick, and Penelope Spheeris.
Seated (left to right): ASC members Jonathan Erland, Karl Walter Lindenlaub, Daryn Okada, Woody Omens, Michael Goi, Victor Kemper and Isidore Mankofsky.
Standing (left to right): Student Academy Award winners and their cinematographers: Andres Salaff, Emily Henricks, Rebekah Meredith, Jeremy Casper, Ruth Fertig, Maria Royo, Varathit Uthaisri, Jun Oshimi, Bobby Webster, Luke Matheny, Rasto Trizma, Stuart Bury, Lubomir Kocka, Kevin Gordon, Jennifer Bors, Isaiah Powers, Tanel Toom and Kim Spurlock.
Photo: Matt Petit / © A.M.P.A.S.
The Mosquito Net‘s producer Luis Miñarro and director Agustí Vila (top); Best Actor co-winner Mateusz Kosciukiewicz.
Karlovy Vary Film Festival: Spanish Family Drama Wins Top Prize
Agustí Vila’s psychological family drama La Mosquitera / The Mosquito Net won the Crystal Globe at the 2010 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, held in the Czech spa city. [Karlovy Vary 2010 list of winners.]
Starring Geraldine Chaplin, Emma Suárez, Eduard Fernández, Marcos Franz, and Alex Batilori, The Mosquito Net chronicles the travails of a well-to-do family whose members suffer from an inability to communicate with one another.
In a non-speaking role, Geraldine Chaplin plays the family matriarch suffering from Alzheimer’s. On the Karlovy Vary site, Chaplin is quoted as saying that Vila’s The Mosquito Net screenplay was one of “the three best scripts I have ever read.”
The Special Jury Prize went to Jan Sverac’s fantasy tale Kooky, a Czech-Danish co-production in which a stuffed bear (that’s Kooky) attempts to return to his rightful owner – a boy suffering from asthma and with a lot of imagination – after he’s thrown away by the boy’s mother. In order to tell his tale, Sverac used handheld puppets set against a natural environment.
Rajko Grlic was the Best Director for the Serbian-Croatian-Slovenian co-production Just Between Us. Set in Zagreb, Grlic’s film deals with a man unable to stick to one single romantic/sex partner.
French performer Anais Demoustier was chosen Best Actress for her role in Olivier Coussemacq’s psychological French thriller Sweet Evil.
Two Polish actors took home the Best Actor Award: Mateusz Kosciukiewicz and Filip Garbacz, who play two brothers gone astray in Pawel Sala’s Polish family drama Mother Teresa of Cats.
Fardin Saheb Zamani’s Iranian There Are Things You Don’t Know and Dmitri Mamulia’s Russian Another Sky received special jury mentions.
Additionally, Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov, whose Burnt by the Sun won the 1994 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, and Czech director Juraj Herz received Crystal Globes for “outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema.”
And finally, Jude Law was given the festival’s President’s Award.
American producer Ron Yerxa acted as jury president.
Karlovy Vary Film Festival website.
Photos: Karlovy Vary Film Festival
Locarno Film Festival
Christophe Honoré’s Homme au bain / Man at Bath, Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond’s La Petite chambre / The Little Room, and Bruce La Bruce’s L.A. Zombie are three of the movies in competition for the Golden Leopard at the 2010 Locarno Film Festival.
Singaporean filmmaker Eric Khoo will preside the international competition’s six-person jury.
Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass’ Cyrus, Valdis Óskarsdóttir’s King’s Road,Cédric Anger’s L’avocat / The Counsel, and Ernst Lubitsch’s 1942 classic To Be or Not to Be, are some of the films to have special screenings at the festival.
Lubitsch, in fact, will be the subject of a retrospective at Locarno. The legendary filmmaker’s daughter, Nicola Lubitsch, is scheduled to be present at the festival.
COMPETITION OF FULL-LENGTH FEATURE FILMS
Grand Jury
Ron Yerxa – President of the Jury, USA
Mirjana Karanovi?, Serbia
Lee Chang-dong, South Korea
Lola Mayo, Spain
Alexei Popogrebsky, Russia
Bohdan Sláma, Czech Republic
David Stratton, Australia
Grand Prix – Crystal Globe (30,000 USD)
The financial award is shared equally by the director and producer of the award-winning film.
The Mosquito Net (La mosquitera), Spain, 2010
Director: Agustí Vila
Special Jury Prize (20,000 USD)
The financial award is shared equally by the director and producer of the award-winning film.
Kooky (Kuky se vrací), Czech Republic, Denmark, 2010
Director: Jan Sv?rák
Best Director Award
Just Between Us (Neka ostane medju nama), Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, 2010
Director: Rajko Grli?
Best Actress Award
Anaïs Demoustier
for her role in the film Sweet Evil (L’enfance du mal)
France, 2009
Best Actor Award
Mateusz Ko?ciukiewicz
and
Filip Garbacz
for their roles in the film Mother Teresa of Cats (Matka Teresa od kotów)
Poland, 2010
SPECIAL MENTION
Another Sky (Drugoje n?bo), Russia, 2010
Director: Dmitri Mamulia
There Are Things You Don’t Know (Chiz-haie hast keh nemidani), Iran, 2010
Director: Fardin Saheb Zamani
Best Documentary Film (5,000 USD)
(under 30 minutes long)
The RiverFamilia, Sweden, 2010
Directors: Mikael Wiström, Alberto Herskovits
SPECIAL MENTION
Tinar, Iran, 2009
Director: Mahdi Moniri
EAST OF THE WEST AWARD
Aurora, Romania, France, Switzerland, Germany, 2010
Director: Cristi Puiu
Special Mention
The Temptation of St. Tony (Püha Tõnu kiusamine), Estonia, Sweden, Finland, 2009
Director: Veiko Õunpuu
OTHER PRIZES AWARDED AT THE FESTIVAL
CRYSTAL GLOBE
FOR OUTSTANDING ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTION TO WORLD CINEMA
Nikita Mikhalkov, Russia
Juraj Herz, Czech Republic
FESTIVAL PRESIDENT’S AWARD
Jude Law, United Kingdom
PRÁVO AUDIENCE AWARD
Oldboys, Denmark, 2009
Director: Nikolaj Steen
NON-STATUTORY AWARDS
INDEPENDENT CAMERA
Four Lions,United Kingdom, 2010
Director: Christopher Morris
EUROPA CINEMAS LABEL
The winning film selected from European pictures which had their premieres at KVIFF
will receive promotional support and be screened at cinemas in the Europa Cinemas network.
Just Between Us (Neka ostane medju nama), Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, 2010
Director: Rajko Grli?
AWARD OF INTERNATIONAL FILM CRITICS (FIPRESCI)
Hitler in Hollywood (Hitler à Hollywood), Belgium, France, Italy
Director: Frédéric Sojcher
THE ECUMENICAL JURY AWARD
Another Sky (Drugoje n?bo), Russia
Director: Dmitri Mamulia
THE DON QUIJOTE PRIZE (FICC – International Federation of Film Societies)
The Mosquito Net (La mosquitera), Spain
Director: Agustí Vila
NETPAC AWARD
Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema
Son of Babylon, Iraq, UK, France, Netherlands, Palestine, UAE, Egypt, 2009
Director: Mohamed Al-Daradji
The Orion (Orion), Iran
Director: Zamani Esmati
Photos: Karlovy Vary Film Festival