April Film Festival Awards and Wraps

SERIES: Major Film Festivals

As April comes to a close, only two major film festivals that opened in April are still in progress: (1) Tribeca (TFF), which opened the 21st and will close May 2nd, and (2) San Francisco (SFIFF), which opened April 22nd and will close May 6th.Tribeca announced its film awards last night at W Union Square in New York City.

In the 2010 World Narrative Feature Competition, the Founders Award for Best Film went to WHEN WE LEAVE (Die Fremde, Germany), directed and written by Feo Aladag. Actress Sibel Kekilli won Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film for he role as Umay in the movie. Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film went to Eric Elmosnino as Serge Gainsbourg in GAINSBOURG, I LOVE YOU MORE THAN ME (Je t’Aime… Moi Non Plus, France), directed and written by Joann Sfar.

LOOSE CANNONS (Mine Vaganti, Italy) received a Special Jury Mention. It was directed by Ferzan Ozpetek. It was written by Ozpetek and Ivan Cotroneo. Kim Chapiron of France was named Best New Narrative Filmmaker for DOG POUND. Chapiron wrote the screenplay with Jeremie Delon.

In the Documentary World Competition, MONICA & DAVID, directed by Alexandra Codina, USA, was named Best Documentary Feature, and BUDRUS (USA, Palestine, Israel), directed by Julia Bacha, received a Special Jury Mention. Click the title of this post for all the awards, including New York and Short Film competitions, the monetary prizes, pictures and more. Also, see previous post for more about the Tribeca IFF.

On the West Coast, the San Francisco International Film Festival is also handing out awards. Tonight, Roger Ebert will receive the San Francisco International Film Festival's annual Mel Novikoff Award, and he'll be in attendance for "An Evening with Roger Ebert and Friends." His friends for the celebration include filmmakers Philip Kaufman, Errol Morris, Jason Reitman and Terry Zwigoff. A screening of Ebert's chosen film, Erick Zonca's uncompromising 2008 genre-buster JULIA, starring Festival favorite Tilda Swinton will follow.

The Kanbar Award for excellence in screenwriting will go to James Schamus, who will be on hand today for a retrospective clip reel and onstage interview with critic and cultural theorist B. Ruby Rich. Schamus' RIDE WITH THE DEVIL (director's cut), directed by his frequent collaborator, Ang Lee, will follow. SFIFF Official Site. Also see previous post for more about the SFIFF.

The regional festivals, covered in the previous post have now wrapped. The Florida Film Festival (FFF) in Orlando reports a successful and fun festival. I am pleased to report that WINTER'S BONE, the first motion picture I picked to do well this year based on the response it received at Sundance, won the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature. There is more about this movie, directed by Debra Granik, in the previous post. It is definitely one to follow this year.

Other narrative feature winners were:

Special Jury Award for Narrative Filmmaking, HOMEWRECKER, directed by Brad and Todd Barnes; Nestle® Cranberry Raisinets® Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature, DON’T LET ME DROWN, directed by Cruz Angeles; and Nestle® Cranberry Raisinets ® Audience Award for Best International Feature, THE TOPP TWINS: UNTOUCHABLE GIRLS, directed by Leanne Pooley. To see all the award winners, including documentary and short films, go here.

RiverRun in Winston-Salem, NC (RRFF), had a very good film schedule, but gave no awards, and the same for Ebertfest, Champaign, IL. On Location: Memphis, TN (MIFMF), gave awards but, frankly, I never heard of any of the films. Will report later if I lean the festival's picks scored at any other festival. Here is the Memphis list. For more about any of these regional festivals, see the previous post.

Some breaking news from Montreal. Above is the official poster of the 2010 Montreal World Film Festival (MWFF), 26 August - 6 September, unveiled yesterday. The poster was selected by public votes from among three finalists, all students in graphic arts at UQAM (Université du Québec à Montréal). Their professor, Philippe Béha, who designed the official MWFF poster in 1986, assigned his students the task of designing a poster for the 2010 Festival. The winner is Hubert Samson. Official Site.

COMING IN MAY: Cannes International Film Festival (CIFF), 12 - 23 May 2010; Mountain Film in Telluride, 28 - 31 May 2010.