Neuigkeiten

The Toronto Film Festival will honor cinematographer Ari Wegner with the Variety Artisan Award at this year’s Tribute Awards, co-heads Joana Vicente and Cameron Bailey announced.

Each year, the award recognizes a creative who has excelled at their craft and made an outstanding contribution to cinema and entertainment. The Tribute Awards will be broadcast on the final day of the festival, Saturday, Sept. 18, at 7 p.m. Et on CTV. They will also be streamed to a global audience by Variety, the exclusive trade media partner of the event.

Cinematographer Roger Deakins and composer Terence Blanchard are previous recipients of the award.

Wegner has worked on both television and film projects, and her career started to take off with Zia Mandviwalla’s “Night Shift,” which screened in Cannes in 2021. She has also shot “The Girlfriend Experience,” “True History of the Kelly Gang,” “In Fabric,” “Stray,” “Ruin” and “Lady Macbeth.”

Most recently,...

'Top of the Lake: China Girl' will make its Australian debut at Miff.

The Melbourne International Film Festival (Miff) has unveiled the first 30 films on its line-up ahead of the full program launch in July..

Among the highlights at this year.s festival, to be held August 3-20, is actually a television series: the Australian premiere of Jane Campion.s series Top of the Lake: China Girl, fresh from Cannes..

All six episodes of the show, starring Elisabeth Moss and Nicole Kidman, will play in three concurrent two-hour sessions, before the show goes on to air on Foxtel.s BBC First.

Another Aussie highlight will be documentary The Silent Eye, from director Amiel Courtin-Wilson (Hail, Ruin), which follows free jazz pioneer Cecil Taylor and modern dance artist Min Tanaka..

Many of the Aussie films that are screening at Sydney Film Festival will also head south for Miff, including a double bill froom Kriv Stenders,...

Shaun Gladwell and Leo Faber, co-founders of Badfaith. . Producer Leo Faber and mixed media artist Shaun Gladwell have founded Badfaith, a new Vr collective with members based out of Australia, London and Los Angeles.. . Its first project, Gladwell.s Orbital Vanitas, had its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival over the weekend. The six minute Vr experience, which places the viewer in the Earth.s orbit, will continue to screen at Sundance this week as part of the New Frontier Showcase. The project is said to set the tone for Badfaith's future endeavours and ethos, which "prioritises creative over the commercial... . As well as Gladwell (The Lacrima Chair, Apology to Roadkill) and Faber, Badfaith consists of video artist Daniel Crooks (Hamilton.s Path, So Long As You Move), writer-director Natasha Pincus (Love.s Labour, Arietta), Amiel Courtin-Wilson (Hail, Ruin) and Luci Schroder (Slapper, Nick Knight.s .Fashion Fetish), Indigenous artist Tony Albert (Unalienable,...

British drama to world premiere at Tiff.

Protagonist Pictures has taken on worldwide sales rights to Lady Macbeth, the debut feature from theatre director William Oldroyd, which will receive its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival (Sept 8-18) in the competitive Platform programme.

The film has also been selected to screen in competition at San Sebastian Film Festival (Sept 16-24).

An adaptation of Nikolai Leskov’s 1865 Russian novella Lady Macbeth Of The Mtsensk District, the film stars British newcomer Florence Pugh (The Falling).

Pugh plays Katherine, a young woman stifled by her marriage of convenience to an industrialist twice her age. Bored, alone and unable to fulfill her duties as a wife, she longs to be free. When she embarks on a passionate affair with a farmhand on her husband’s estate, her passion is awoken and she will stop at nothing to keep hold of him.

Former Screen Star of Tomorrow Cosmo Jarvis (Spooks: The Greater Good) plays...

Exclusive: Production underway in UK on next iFeatures film, its first period drama.

Principal photography is underway on this year’s first iFeatures film Lady Macbeth, which will star Florence Pugh (The Falling).

Theatre director William Oldroyd makes his feature debut on the 19th Century period drama.

Singer-songwriter and former Screen Star of Tomorrow Cosmo Jarvis (Spooks: The Greater Good) will play opposite Pugh while supporting cast includes Christopher Fairbank (Guardians of the Galaxy), newcomer Naomi Ackie and Paul Hilton (Wuthering Heights).

Lady Macbeth centres on Katherine, a young woman brought up in the wilds of Northumberland, who finds herself childless and friendless, stifled by her marriage of convenience to a rich local industrialist twice her age.

Tired of the vast house she shares with her detached husband and father-in-law, Katherine’s interests become piqued by Sebastian, a worker on her husband’s estate. Sebastian unlocks a fearsome passion in Katherine. As their illicit...

Screen Australia has provided $170,000 funding for eight filmmakers to work as .attachments. on a range of screen projects..

The investment will help develop the skills, contacts and expertise of some of Australia.s gifted screen practitioners, and connect them into the local and international film industry.

Screen Australia senior development executive, Nerida Moore, said talent development was one of the most important aspects Screen Australia's work.

"It.s wonderful to be able to support it in a tangible and meaningful way," she said..

"This funding is very specific . it will enable particular people to work on projects that suit their unique talents and pathways..

"Film is a global industry and it.s important that we help Australian filmmakers find opportunities here and internationally. We look forward to seeing where these opportunities take them!.

Producer Michael Cody (Ruin, Hail) will work across the development, financing, production and distribution slate of Plan B Entertainment (The Departed,...

Production, post and distribution company Curious has announced a ramped up production slate across both Australian and Nz projects, including Pat Nalin.s highly anticipated Beyond the Known World due for completion in mid-2015.

Set in The Himalayas, the Nz-India co-production follows an estranged couple who journey to India in order to search for their missing daughter. The cast includes David Wenham (Lord of the Rings, 300, Top of the Lake), Sia Trokenheim (Step Dave, Everything We Loved), and Emmanuelle Beart (8 Femmes) and is currently in post-production at Curious Auckland.

Matthew Horrocks and Kristian Eek will produce while Matt Noonan and Sarah Noonan are the EPs. Arclight Films is handling international sales. Curious will distribute in Australia and Nz.

Director Taika Watiti of Boy and What We Do in The Shadows has a new comic adventure up his sleeve, with Hunt for the Wilderpeople commencing production on May 18, 2015 in New Zealand.

The Sessions writer-director Ben Lewin is attached to helm Blue Rose, a biopic about the self-described .sex crazed. Australian composer and pianist Percy Grainger.

La-based Jeffrey Walker will return to Oz a to direct Dance Academy: The Comeback., a spin-off of Werner Film Productions. popular TV series, which will follow a young ballerina who dreams of being a star.

Following Ruin and Hail, Amiel Courtin-Wilson is to write, produce and direct Hawkwood, a thriller set in the backwaters of Africa which tells of ageing mercenary.s journey from chaos to grace.

These are among 16 feature projects which are receiving more than $620,000 in development funding from Screen Australia.

Lewin will write Blue Rose with Wain Fimeri for producers Chryssy Tintner, Jan Eymann, Judi Levine and Arclight.s Mark Lazarus and Gary Hamilton. His next film is Us indie romantic drama Purple Hearts, which will star Jane the Virgin's Gina Rodriguez...

The Water Diviner and The Babadook share top film honours and ABC’s The Code is the biggest TV winner. All the red carpet glitz, gossip and gongs from Sydney

Water Diviner and Babadook tie, but at least they’re AussieAactas red carpet: the stars arrive – in pictures

8.58pm Aest

The big winners? The Water Diviner and The Babadook for film, and The Code for its multiple awards in the telly categories.

Plenty more to celebrate and debate in the coming days. We’ll be back on Friday with the best quotes and pictures. Not to mention our weekly film column that sees Luke Buckmaster re-watching the cult classics of Australian cinema, week in week out, for your reading/viewing pleasure.

8.39pm Aest

And, breathe, we’re almost there. Cate and Debs are back on stage to lead into the final and biggest gong of the night: the award for...

Jennifer Kent.s The Babadook and Russell Crowe.s The Water Diviner tied for best film at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta) awards in Sydney.

That.s the first joint award for best film in AFI/Aacta history. Kent also collected the awards for best director (Crowe wasn't nominated in that category) and original screenplay.

Telecast on Network Ten, the awards drew just 297,000 viewers in the five metro cities last night, proving more popular in Melbourne (107,000) than Sydney (80,000).

Playmaker Media.s conspiracy thriller The Code collared the awards for best TV drama, lead actor in a TV drama (Ashley Zukerman), supporting actress (Chelsie Preston Crayford) and direction in a TV drama or comedy (Shawn Seet). The Longford Lyell Award, named for Australian cinema pioneers Raymond Longford and Lottie Lyell, went to screenwriter Andrew Knight, whose credits as head writer or co-writer include Fast Forward, Full Frontal,...

Screen Nsw development and production executive Justin Donoghue is joining Screen Australia.

Donoghue has been appointed development executive, replacing Jo Dillon, who departed in August to become head of production and development at Screen Queensland.

At Screen Nsw he has focussed primarily on feature development as well as TV and interactive projects and he managed the Aurora development program.

He worked on the development of Amiel Courtin-Wilson.s Ruin and Simon Stone.s The Daughter and with Jennifer Kent, Cate Shortland, Andrew Bovell and John Collee. A graduate of the UK National Film & Television School in script development, he had 15 years experience in Europe, South Africa and the UK in development, production and distribution, working on projects for Hallmark Entertainment, Film Four, Channel Five, Downtown Pictures and Kudos Film and Television.

Screen Australia head of production Sally Caplan said, .I am delighted to have Justin bring in his range of skills and experience,...

Debut competition titles at cinematography festival unveiled.

Camerimage, the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography (Nov 15-22), has revealed the line-up of films screening in three of the festival’s competition sections including Cinematographers’ Debut, Directors’ Debut and Student Etudes.

The entries are:

Cinematographers’ Debut Competition

Duane Hopkins’ Bypass;

UK, 2014; Cinematographer: David Procter

Sidney Lexy Plaut’s Dark Samurai;

Denmark, 2014; Cinematographer: Sidney Lexy Plaut

Zeresenay Berhane Mehari’s Difret;

Ethiopia, USA, 2014; Cinematographer: Monika Lenczewska

Krzysztof Skonieczny’s Hardkor Disko;

Poland, 2014; Cinematographer: Kacper Fertacz

Arild Østin Ommundsen’s It’s Only Make Believe;

Norway, 2013; Cinematographer: Arild Østin Ommundsen

Michael Cody and Amiel Courtin-Wilson’s Ruin;

Australia, 2013; Cinematographer: Ari Wegner

Ester Martin Bergsmark’s Something Must Break;

Sweden, 2014; Cinematographers: Lisabi Fridell and Minka Jakerson

David Pablos’ The Life After;

Mexico, 2013; Cinematographer: José De- La-Torre

Saar Klein’s Things People Do;

USA, 2014; Cinematographer: Matthias Koenigswieser

Jonas Alexander Arnby’s When Animals Dream;

Denmark, 2013; Cinematographer: [link=nm...

Direct from its world-premiere screening at the Cannes Film Festival, Sff and Vivid Ideas are proud to present the Australian Premiere of the highly anticipated futuristic thriller The Rover and host director David Michôd, actors Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson and producer Liz Watts at the State Theatre on Saturday 7 June. The Rover screens as part of Sff’s Official Competition. Michôd, Pearce, Pattinson and Watts will also give a talk as part of Vivid Ideas at Town Hall on Sunday 8 June.

Actor Cate Blanchett will attend the Festival to introduce a special screening of DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon 2 the second chapter of the epic trilogy in which Blanchett is the voice of the character Valka. The screening is held at 2pm on Public Holiday Monday, 9 June, at Event Cinemas George Street.

UK visual artists and film directors Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard introduce Sff’s Opening Night Film,...

Nick Cave documentary 20,000 Days on Earth and titles set for Cannes among Sydney Film Festival competiton contenders.

In an unusual move the Sydney Film Festival has included among its official competition contenders, the June 4 opening night film 20,000 Days on Earth, which digs deep into the life of Australian-born musician and artist Nick Cave and won the top prize for documentary at the Sundance Film Festival.

This year will also see the biggest number of Australian films in the competition. David Michôd’s The Rover will come fresh from Cannes and the other two are Ruin, which writer/directors Amiel Courtin-Wilson and Michael Cody filmed in Cambodia, and Fell, a debut film from Kasimir Burge that will have its world premiere at the annual event. Burge won a Crystal Bear at Berlin for his short Lily.

See below for the full list of the finalists in the seventh year of the A$60,000 ($56,000) competition.

Finishing off the...

The Rover, Ruin, 20,000 Days on Earth, Fell and Nz mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows are just some of the 183 films scheduled to screen at the 61st Sydney Film Festival in June this year.

The full program for the Festival was announced this morning by the Nsw Minister for the Arts, Troy Grant, at a packed event held at Customs House in Circular Quay, Sydney.

.The New South Wales Government, through Screen Nsw and Destination Nsw, is very pleased to be again supporting Sydney Film Festival which is also part of Vivid Ideas 2014. Sydney Film Festival is a highlight of the city.s rich arts calendar and an important part of our cultural fabric. The Festival underpins Sydney.s recognition as a Unesco City of Film, and I look forward to experiencing the Festival this June,. Mr Grant addressed the crowd this morning.

Another exciting announcement was the Sff...

The 61st Sydney Film Festival today announced 32 films to be featured in this year.s event (June 4-15) in advance of the full program launch on May 7.

The line-up includes the world premiere of The Redfern Story, 19 Australian premieres, 13 features, 11 documentaries and an eight-film retrospective on maverick American filmmaker Robert Altman. Altman.s son, filmmaker Michael Altman, will attend festival and introduce several of the Altman screenings.

Darlene Johnson.s The Redfern Story chronicles the volatile birth of the first all-Indigenous theatre company, the National Black Theatre. It features interviews with indigenous media pioneer Lester Bostock, writer Gerry Bostock, actor Lillian Crombie, activist-academic Gary Foley, academic Marcia Langton, actors Rachael Maza, Bryan Brown and Bindi Williams. .We are pleased to present this sneak preview of 32 of the 180-plus films in this year.s program,. said Festival Director Nashen Moodley. .We have gathered a selection of the best films from the...

See-Saw Films. A Long Way Home and Goalpost Pictures. Holding the Man were the only features that received production investment from Screen Australia at the March 26 board meeting.

The agency also committed post production funds to director/producer/writer Shane Abbess.s futuristic sci-fier Infini and two feature documentaries, Damon Gameau.s That Sugar Film and Gracie Otto.s The Last Impresario.

In this funding round, the second last of the current financial year, a total of $4.3 million was invested.

Top of the Lake co-director Garth Davis will direct A Long Way Home, based on the true story of Saroo Brierley, an Indian-born Australian who found his birth mother 25 years after they were separated.

It will be produced by See-Saw and Sunstar Entertainment, which optioned the rights to Brierley.s autobiography last year. He was five when he fell asleep on a train bound for Calcutta. Scared and alone, he...

Madman Entertainment co-founders and joint managing directors Tim Anderson and Paul Wiegard have agreed on the key terms to buy the theatrical and home entertainment distributor from parent company Funtastic.

In a letter to staff and stakeholders today, they said they expect to close the deal within a few weeks and they are part of a small consortium that's buying the business.

Anderson and Wiegard sold the distributor, which they founded 18 years ago in the bedroom of a share house, to Funtastic in 2006 for $34.5 million.

Funtastic told the Australian Stock Exchange it had received two expressions of interest to buy Madman and while assessing these offers it had discovered the book value of $52 million was far higher than market value. It warned it would take an impairment charge of $22 million-$28 million on the sale.

A management buy-out seemed the most logical outcome. The co-founders said that after thinking about Madman...

Madman Entertainment is for sale. Toy, clothing and confectionery company Funtastic, which bought the distributor for $34.5 million in 2006, told the Asx it expects to finalise the sale before it announces its first half results.

Funtastic said it had received two expressions of interest to buy Madman. While assessing these offers it said it discovered the carrying value of Madman of $52 million was higher than market value.

It revealed it would likely incur an impairment charge of $22 million- $28 million on the sale.. Funtastic said it will use the proceeds to repay debt, which would be reduced to about $25 million.

Madman has been hit by the downturn in the DVD market,. Foxtel Movies slashing the licence fees for films and a contraction in the theatrical market. for indie films. In fiscal 2013, Madman accounted for 31% of Funtastic's revenues. Some 79% of the division's revenues came from physical sales of DVDs with just 11% from theatrical and 10% from digital and ancillary.

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Like Father, Like Son won best film and best director at the 56th Asia Pacific Film Festival (Apff), which wrapped in Macau on Sunday night (Dec 15).

India’s The Lunchbox, written and directed by Ritesh Batra, continued its awards run by scooping three prizes – best screenplay, best supporting actor for Nawazuddin Siddiqui and an outstanding achievement award for Irrfan Khan.

Zhang Ziyi won best actress for The Grandmaster, while best actor went to Lee Kang-sheng for Stray Dogs, which also won best sound (Tu Duu-chih, Kuo Li-chi). The Grandmaster also picked up best cinematography (Philippe Le Sourd).

Best supporting actress went to Yeo Yann Yann for Anthony Chen’s Ilo Ilo. Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer picked up best art director for the work of Ondrej Nekvasil.

Indonesia’s What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love picked up best music for the work of Zeke Khaseli and Yudhi Arfani, while Australia...

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Like Father, Like Son won best film and best director at the 56th Asia Pacific Film Festival (Apff), which wrapped in Macau on Sunday night (Dec 15).

India’s The Lunchbox, written and directed by Ritesh Batra, continued its awards run by scooping three prizes – best screenplay, best supporting actor for Nawazuddin Siddiqui and an outstanding achievement award for Irrfan Khan.

Zhang Ziyi won best actress for The Grandmaster, while best actor went to Lee Kang-sheng for Stray Dogs, which also won best sound (Tu Duu-chih, Kuo Li-chi). The Grandmaster also picked up best cinematography (Philippe Le Sourd).

Best supporting actress went to Yeo Yann Yann for Anthony Chen’s Ilo Ilo. Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer picked up best art director for the work of Ondrej Nekvasil.

Indonesia’s What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love picked up best music for the work of Zeke Khaseli and Yudhi Arfani, while Australia...

The Lunchbox actor Irrfan Khan won an award for Outstanding Achievement while Nawazuddin Siddiqui won the award for Best Supporting Actor for the film at the 56th Asia-Pacific Film Festival.

The Lunchbox continued its winning spree by winning the Best Screenplay award. The film was nominated in six categories.

The Best Picture award went to Japanese film Like Father Like Son while director Kore-eda Hirokazu won the Best Director award.

The 56th Asia-Pacific Film Festival was held from December 13-15, 2013 in Macau.

Full list of awards:

Best Picture: Like Father Like Son [Japan]

Best Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu; Like Father Like Son [Japan]

Best Actor: Lee Kang-sheng; Stray Dogs [Taiwan/France]

Best Actress: Zhang Ziyi; The Grandmaster [Hong Kong/China]

Outstanding Achievement: Irrfan Khan; The Lunchbox [India]

Best Supporting Actor: Nawazuddin Siddiqui; The Lunchbox [India]

Best Supporting Actress: Yeo Yann Yann; Ilo Ilo [Singapore]

Best Screenplay: Ritesh Batra; The Lunchbox [India]

Best Art Director: Ondrej Nekvasil; Snowpiercer [South Korea]

Best Editing: Simon Price, Sally Blenheim,...

Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox has bagged six nominations at the 56th Asia-Pacific Film Festival including Best Film and Best Director.

Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqui have secured nominations in Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor categories respectively.

Rajeev Ravi has been nominated in Best Cinematography category for Monsoon Shootout.

The awards will be announced on December 15 in Macau. The Asia-Pacific Film Festival (Apff) is an annual event hosted by the Federation of Motion Picture Producers in Asia-Pacific (Fpa).

Best Picture:

“The Grandmaster” (Hong Kong)

“Like Father Like Son” (Tokyo)

“The Lunchbox” (Mumbai)

“Stray Dogs” (Taipei)

“Ilo Ilo” (Singapore)

“In Bloom” (Tbilisi)

Best Director:

Tsai Ming-liang, “Stray Dogs” (Taipei)

Bong Joon-ho, “Snowpiercer” (Seoul)

Ritesh Batra, “The Lunchbox” (Mumbai)

Jafar Panahi and Kamboziya Partovi, “Closed Curtain” (Tehran)

Wong Kar-wai, “The Grandmaster” (Hong Kong)

Hirokazu Kore-eda, “Like Father Like Son” (Tokyo)

Best Actor:

Irrfan Khan, “The Lunchbox” (Mumbai)

Nick Cheung,...

Cambodian-set surreal love story Ruin has won another international festival award.

The film collected the prize for best concept and cinematography at the International 2morrow film festival in Moscow. Michael Cody, who co-directed the film with Amiel Courtin-Wilson, was on hand to accept the award.

Ruin won the special Orizzonti Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. It.s screening this week in Chile.s Festival Internacional de Cine Valdivia and in November will participate in Ireland's Cork International Film Festival. Courtin-Wilson tells If the film will be released in Australia by Madman Entertainment after it plays at Oz festivals next year.

Mark Hartley.s Patrick is competing at the Sitges horror/thriller festival in Spain alongside films such as Robert Rodriguez.s Machete Kills, Nicolas Winding Refn.s Only God Forgives and Eli Roth.s The Green Inferno.

Charles Dance, who plays a renegade neurologist who treats the comatose title character in Patrick,...

When the hardware was handed out at the Venice International Film Festival just the other week the jury members behind the Orizzonti Special Jury Prize, headed by Paul Schrader (writer of such films as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and The Mosquito Coast), saw fit to award the film Ruin and its filmmakers Michael Cody and Amiel Courtin-Wilson. And now we have a trailer to share with you. It features some tremendous imagery and a dreamlike quality to it. Take a look below!Ruin is an impressionistic fable- the story of Phirun (Rous Mony) and Sovanna (Melang) - two lovers inexplicably drawn together who escape a brutal and exploitative world of crime and violence in modern day Cambodia. Fleeing Phnom Penh after a murder, they travel deeper...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

★★★★☆ Showing in the Orizzonti sidebar at the 70th Venice Film Festival, Ruin (2013) is by turns a gritty and dazzling lovers-on-the-run tale set in modern day Cambodia. Directed by Michael Cody and Amiel Courtin-Wilson, the film tells the story of two of society's worst-off down-and-outs. Sang Malen plays Sovanna, a young prostitute who is beaten and mistreated by her pimp when she feigns illness to escape work. She manages to escape, but Phnom Penh - and Cambodia, for that mater - is no place for a young girl on her own. Fortunately she meets Phirun (Rous Mony), an aggressive young local factory worker.

A vague spark of affection is ignited and Phirun promises to shelter the girl, but following a murder they are forced to flee the city and look to survive on the road. The obvious model here is Terrence Malick's 1973 classic Badlands, with moments of down-to-earth social realism...

Matteo Lovadina’s Reel Suspects has picked up international rights on Venice Orizzonti special jury prize winner Ruin.

Amiel Courtin-Wilson and Michael Cody direct.

The Australian-made Ruin is set in modern-day Cambodia. It’s an impressionistic love story about young lovers on the run, trying to escape a life of crime and violence. The cast is led by Rous Mony and Sang Malen. It was made through Flood Projects Production and Hanuman Films.

Madman will release the film in Australia. North American rights are handled by La based Xyz Films and United Talent Agency (UTA). Germany and Italy are reportedly in negotiations for the title.

Reel Suspects has also confirmed two more deals on another of its titles, Brendan Muldowney’s Love Eternal. The film, produced by Fastnet Films, Red Lion, Rinkel Film and T.O. Entertainment, has now gone to Sweden (Njuta Films) and Benelux (Just Film Distribution).

The film is a darkly comic melodrama about an...

While I struggle to keep up at Tiff (good lord what a learning curve) the Venice Film Festival wrapped up and announced its awards. We didn't share them in a timely fashion. My apologies. The winners were...

Stray Dogs

 

Golden Lion: Sacro Gra (Gianfranco Rosi)

This surprise winner is a documentary about a famous highway in Rome. Sometimes non-sexy subject matter translates into great films.

Grand Jury Prize: Stray Dogs (Tsai Ming-liang)

From the sounds of twitter this was the sensation of the festival though it doesn't screen at Tiff until after I leave town. *snifffle*

Silver Lion (Best Director): Alexandros Avranas, Miss Violence

Best Actor: Themis Panou, Miss Violence

I have a terrible habit of skipping films which then become winners at festivals. This is also playing Toronto but descriptions make it sound like a Greek version of The Virgin Suicides and I didn't bite. In hindsight and...

In Competition

Golden Lion – Sacro Gra, directed by Gianfranco Rosi

Silver Lion (Best Director) – Alexandros Avranas, Miss Violence

Grand Jury Prize – Stray Dogs, directed by Tsai Ming-liang

Special Jury Prize – The Police Officer's Wife, directed by Philip Gröning

Volpi Cup for Best Actor – Themis Panou, Miss Violence

Volpi Cup for Best Actress – Elena Cotta, A Street in Palermo

Best Screenplay – Philomena, written by Steve Coogan & Jeff Pope

Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress – Tye Sheridan, Joe

Horizons (Orizzonti)

Orizzonti Award for Best Film – Eastern Boys, directed by Robin Campillo

Orizzonti Award for Best Director – Uberto Pasolini, Still Life

Special Orizzonti Jury Prize – Ruin, directed by Michael Cody & Amiel Courtin-Wilson

Special Orizzonti Prize for Innovative Content – Fish & Cat, directed by Shahram Mokri

Lion of the Future Award

Best Debut Film – White Shadow, directed by Noaz Deshe

Fipresci

Competition Fipresci Prize – Tom at the Farm, directed by Xavier Dolan...

A still from Kush

Shubhashish Bhutiani’s short film Kush, the lone Indian entry at the Venice Film Festival, has won the Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film.

Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival showcases new trends in world cinema. The Orizzonti Jury was chaired by Paul Schrader and composed of Catherine Corsini, Leonardo Di Costanzo, Golshifteh Farahani, Frédéric Fonteyne, Kseniya Rappoport and Amr Waked.

Kush featuring Sonika Chopra, Shayaan Sameer and Anil Sharma is inspired by a true story : In 1984, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards, causing anti-Sikh riots to erupt throughout the country. A teacher travelling back from a field trip with her class of 10-year-old students struggles to protect Kush, the only Sikh student in the class, from the growing violence around him.

Bhutiani recently graduated from School of Visual Arts (Sva) in New York.

List Of Awards:

Golden...

The Venice Golden Lion returned to the host country after fifteen years this evening with Gianfranco Rosi's biography of a Rome ring road, Sacro Gra, picking up the festival's top prize. Renowned director Bernardo Bertolucci and his jury plumped for high arthouse cinema over the more crowd-pleasing fare of Stephen Frears' British offering Philomena, which had to make do with the award for Best Screenplay. Best Actor and Best Director went respectively to Themis Panou and Alexandros Avranas for Greek family abuse drama Miss Violence. Although the film (for this reviewer at least) is an exploitative, nasty piece of work, it's undeniably well-directed, and Panou is utterly brilliant as the chilling pater familias.

The Grand Jury Prize was reserved for Tsai Ming-liang's dark horse Stray Dogs which, with its ten-minute long takes of people staring at walls and eating cabbages, could well be a test case for cinephile seriousness.

Surprise choice for Golden Lion is Italian documentary. Silver Lion for best director goes to Alexandros Avranas for Miss Violence.

The surprise winner of the Venice Golden Lion is Gianfranco Rosi’s Italian documentary Sacro Gra, about life on the highway that surrounds Rome.

It marks the first time a documentary has ever won the Golden Lion.

Greek film Miss Violence had a strong showing winning both best director for Alexandros Avranas and best actor for Themis Panou.

Review: Sacro Grareview: Miss Violence

The Venezia 70 Jury, chaired by Bernardo Bertolucci and comprised of Andrea Arnold, Renato Berta, Carrie Fisher, Martina Gedeck, Jiang Wen, Pablo Larraín, Virginie Ledoyen, Ryuichi Sakamoto has awarded the following prizes:

Main Competition Awards

Golden Lion for Best Film

Sacro Gra, Gianfranco Rosi (Italy, France)

Silver Lion for Best Director

Alexandros Avranas, Miss Violence (Greece)

Grand Jury Prize

Jiaoyou, Tsai Ming-liang (Chinese Taipei, France)Best Actor: Themis Panou, Miss ViolenceBest...

Surprise choice for Golden Lion is Italian documentary. Silver Lion for best director goes to Alexandros Avranas for Miss Violence.

The surprise winner of the Venice Golden Lion is Gianfranco Rosi’s Italian documentary Sacro Gra, about life on the highway that surrounds Rome.

Greek film Miss Violence had a strong showing winning both best director for Alexandros Avranas and best actor for Themis Panou.

The Venezia 70 Jury, chaired by Bernardo Bertolucci and comprised of Andrea Arnold, Renato Berta, Carrie Fisher, Martina Gedeck, Jiang Wen, Pablo Larraín, Virginie Ledoyen, Ryuichi Sakamoto has awarded the following prizes

Main Competition Awards

Golden Lion for Best Film

Sacro Gra by Gianfranco Rosi (Italy, France)

Silver Lion for Best Director

Alexandros Avranas for Miss Violence (Greece)

Grand Jury Prize

Jiaoyou by Tsai Ming-liang (Chinese Taipei, France)

Coppa Volpi for Best Actor

Themis Panou in Miss Violence

Coppa Volpi for Best Actress

Elena Cotta inVIA Castellana Bandiera by Emma Dante (Italy, Switzerland...

The 70th Venice Film Festival wrapped this weekend with the top prize of the Golden Lion going to Gianfranco Rosi's documentary "Sacro Gra".

The Venice fest awards are unique in that, only in exceptional cases, can a film win more than one prize. On top of that, whoever wins the Golden Lion can only win that award.

An exceptional case was seen with "Miss Violence" which took the Best Director (Alexandros Avranas) and Best Actor (Themis Panou) honors. Elena Cotta won Best Actress for "Via Castellana Bandiera".

Tsai Ming-liang's "Stray Dogs" took the newly added Grand Jury Prize, while Philip Groning's "The Police Officer’s Wife" won a Special Jury Prize.

Rising young "Mud" star Tye Sheridan took Best New Young Actor/Actress for "Joe," and comedian Steve Coogan along with Jeff Pope took best screenplay for "Philomena".

Earlier, the critics week "Lion of the Future" award for debut...

The initial reactions to Amiel Courtin-Wilson and Michael Cody.s Cambodian-set romantic drama Ruin after the world premiere at the Venice Film Festival are decidedly mixed.

Billed as an impressionistic fable about a disgruntled factory worker who hooks up with a prostitute on a road trip after a murder, the low-budget film screened in the festival.s Horizon section dedicated to new, distinctive films from rising talents.

Fairfax Media.s Stephanie Bunbury described the film as .elliptical, full of sumptuous images that can be read as dreams or symbols more easily than as a real-world narrative, backed with a dense electronic score..

Bunbury observed, .The film may have a small audience, but it's an intensely committed one.. She noted there were a number of walk-outs and there were negative responses from trade magazine critics.

Perhaps, although none of the major trades has yet posted reviews. And Cody has a very different take on the responses,...

I’ve yet to find myself on the Lido (at the top of my bucket list choices for film festivals I’ve yet to visit) but thanks to some forward-thinking folks such as the Festival Scope folks, the Venice Film Festival is coming directly to our living rooms, laptops and whatnot Live.

An experiment that began last year and in its sophomore edition has blossomed into a well-oiled virtual event, each film (see list) below will hold a maximum “seating capacity” of 500 virtual places/seat holders for world cinephiles (read the full description of the service). Among the dozen or so films from the Orizzonti section and a selected trio films from the new Biennale College are the make-up of Web Theatre programme and to help promote the event, we’re holding a contest – five lucky readers will get to watch Pavilion‘s Tim Sutton’s (an Ioncinephile of the...

With the rise of the encroaching Toronto, the domestic competition offered by Rome and a hugely successful Cannes this year, the 70th Venice Film Festival - which begins on 28 August - is facing some pretty stiff competition. The lineup, however, is on the face of it relatively low-key, though there are some very interesting possibilities and potential surprises. Regular attendee George Clooney opens proceedings with Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity, whilst in the main competition lie a mix of old hands - Errol Morris with his Donald Rumsfeld documentary, Hayao Miyazaki's last fable - along with fresh talents such as Kelly Reichardt (Night Moves) and Jonathan Glazer (with his Birth follow-up, Under the Skin).

Terry Gilliam also returns after an elongated absence, his The Zero Theorem starring Christoph Waltz as a hacker searching for the meaning of existence. The film hopefully marks a return to form for a filmmaker who...