The 58th edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival was held in the Spanish city of San Sebastián from Sep 18-25.One of the oldest and biggest festivals of Europe,it has been acknowledged by the FIAPF as an A category festival since 1957.This year's festival jury was headed by director Goran Paskaljevic.The major award categories along with this year's winners are listed :1.GOLDEN SHELL FOR BEST FILM
Film :“Neds"(Non-Educated Delinquents)
Dir :Peter Mullan
Country : UK
Coming eight years after his “The Magdalene Sisters,” which topped the Venice Fest, this is another socio-realist slap in the face from the actor(Trainspotting, Boy A, Session 9 ) and occasional director,Peter Mullan's "Neds" is a bold, persuasive period portrait of a juvenile delinquent in the making. Plot :The film is Set in working-class Glasgow during the early 1970s.Despite his troubled home life at the hands of his menacing, drunken father and the presumed negative influence of his card-carrying Ned big brother; the intelligent, sensitive young man John initially manages to rise above his new school's low expectations.But he ultimately and systematically succumbs to the inevitable as deeply seated resentment and rage are allowed to fester unheeded by those bleak surroundings.
2.SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
Film : “Elisa K.”
Dir :Judith Colell
Country :Spain
Overview :The traumatic consequences of childhood sexual abuse are examined in excessively stylish fashion by writer-director Judith Colell.The film relates how bright 10-year-old schoolgirl Elisa was raped by a friend of her father's, and how she dealt with this incident by burying it deep within her subconscious.But at the age of 25 her long-dormant memories all comes suddenly flooding back in resulting in chaos.
3.SILVER SHELL FOR BEST DIRECTOR
Film : “Mysteries of Lisbon”
Dir :Raoul Ruiz
Country:Portugal
Overview :A set of spiral stories set in 19th-century Lisbon. A teenage boy raised by priests learns the secret of his aristocratic lineage; a French heiress seeks revenge against the man who sullied her honor; and a kindly padre changes identities as it suits the occasion.
4.JURY PRIZE FOR BEST SCREENPLAY
Film : "Home for Christmas"
Dir :Bent Hamer
Country:Norway
Overview :Set in a small Norwegian town on Christmas Eve, the film interweaves tales of love and longing, new life, fresh hope and sad farewellDoctor Knut ventures outdoors and winds up delivering a baby. His friend Paul is embittered by the collapse of his marriage and determined to see his children for the first time in seven weeks.Schoolboy Thomas lies about his family never celebrating Christmas so he can spend time with his Muslin schoolmate Bintu .Karin prepares for a night of passion with her married lover safe in the knowledge that he has vowed to leave his wife after Christmas.
5. JURY PRIZE FOR BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY :
Film : “Father”
DoP :Jimmy Gimferrer
Dir :Jose Maria de Orbe
Country :Spain
Overview :Shot using DV in Catalonia, the main location is a large, crumbling mansion surrounded by trees.An elderly gent , presumably some kind of caretaker, is shown puttering about working on various small restoration jobs, and occasionally conversing on philosophical issues with a younger man who appears to be a local clergyman.There are other visitors from time to time, but for long stretches very little "happens" as such: Entire sequences consist of observing the play of light in the various rooms.
6.SILVER SHELL FOR BEST ACTRESS
Actress :Nora Navas
Film: "Black Bread"
Country :Spain
7.SILVER SHELL FOR BEST ACTOR :
Actor: Connor McCarron
Film :"Neds"
Country :UK
Plot :The film is Set in working-class Glasgow during the early 1970s.Despite his troubled home life at the hands of his menacing, drunken father and the presumed negative influence of his card-carrying Ned big brother; the intelligent, sensitive young man John (potrayed byConnor McCarron )initially manages to rise above his new school's low expectations.But he ultimately and systematically succumbs to the inevitable as deeply seated resentment and rage are allowed to fester unheeded by those bleak surroundings. sources :imdb, hollywoodreporter,obssessedwithfilm,wiki, etc.
The 67th Venice Film Festival held in Venice, Italy, took place from September 1 to September 11,2010.Twenty-four films competed in the Mostra, which screened 79 full-length world premieres from 34 countries all together over 11 days starting from Sep 1st.The jury at the world's oldest film festival headed by Quentin Tarantino also included fellow directors Arnaud Desplechin of France, Guillermo Arriaga of Mexico and Italian Gabriele Salvatores.The major award categories along with winners are listed below:
1. Leone d'oro (Golden Lion) Award
Film : Somewhere
Dir : Sofia Coppola
Country : USA
"From that first enchanted screening this film grew and grew in our hearts, in our minds, in our affections," jury president Quentin Tarantino .
The film follows a big, Hollywood mega-star, Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff), over the course of a few days in his life. We witness his excessive partying, his inability to look after himself and his lack of any real connections to the world. That is except for his 11 year-old daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning), who turns up at her father’s hotel one day whilst her mum is going through some unspecified crisis. Initially Johnny is bored, his eye always straying to the nearest beautiful woman. But he slowly begins to take notice and comes to examine what he is missing his own shell of an existence.
2. Leone d'Argento(Silver Lion) Award
Film : Balada Triste de Trompeta (A Sad Trumpet Ballad)
Dir: Alex de la Iglesia
Country :Spain
A Sad Trumpet Ballad – starts off set in Madrid in 1937, during the civil war. A troupe of clowns are entertaining some children, with the sound of aerial bombardment in the background, when suddenly a group of republican soldiers burst in and arm the clowns – desperate to turn the tide of a losing battle.Imprisoned after the battle is lost, the clown’s son is left without a family… and with revenge in his heart.Then we are taken forward in time to 1973 and the dying days of General Franco regime in Spain. The son has grown up and become a “sad clown” unable to laugh or make jokes owing to the tragedy of his childhood years. He falls in love with a female acrobat who is in fact the girlfriend of an abusive “happy clown”, who beats her . Soon the two clowns are engaged in an on-going and self-destructive feud, over a woman who can’t decide whether she wants somebody violent, but exciting, or somebody who wants to look after her, but lacks fire.
"It’s not too much of a stretch to say that the indecisive women is Spain and her two lovers are the two sides from the Spanish civil war. She flirts briefly with communism of the republic, but is seduced by the strength of fascist dictatorship"- director Alex de la Iglesia
3. Special Jury Prize
Film : Essential Killing
Dir : Jerzy Skolimowski
Country : Poland
The film focusses on Mohammed ,an Afghan who is detained after an encounter, and taken to a Guantanamo-style prison camp. After facing torture and interrogation in the prison, Mohammed is transported to an unspecified part of Eastern Europe , where he is able to make a daring escape after his transport rolls off the icy road and down a hill.What follows is a cross-country chase, as Mohammed must evade capture at any cost. Essential Killing is about survival and if Mohammed must take a few lives on the way, then so be it. There is nothing noble or heroic about our protagonist, as he does some very disturbing things, though the film doesn’t judge him either.
4. Coppa Volpi for Best Actor
Vincent Gallo
Film :Essential Killing
Country : Poland
Vincent Gallo stars as Mohammed ,an Afghan who is detained after an encounter, and taken to a Guantanamo-style prison camp. After facing torture and interrogation in the prison, Mohammed is transported to an unspecified part of Eastern Europe , where he is able to make a daring escape after his transport rolls off the icy road and down a hill.What follows is a cross-country chase, as Mohammed must evade capture at any cost. Essential Killing is about survival and if Mohammed must take a few lives on the way, then so be it. There is nothing noble or heroic about our protagonist, as he does some very disturbing things, though the film doesn’t judge him either.
5.Coppa Volpi for Best Actress
Ariane Labed
Film :Attenberg
Dir : Athina Rachel Tsangari
Country : Greece
The experimental film is about the adventures of two slightly weird young women (who act more like adolescent girls) who hang out and do weird dances and talk about boys. One of them has a boyfriend, the other has a terminally ill father, with whom she is discussing burial arrangements.
6. Osella for Best Cinematography
Mikhail Krichman
Film : Silent Souls
Dir :Aleksei Fedorchenko
Country : Russia
Plot Overview :After a man’s young wife dies suddenly he enlists the help of a colleague in disposing of the body in accordance with the local custom. The characters here are Meryar, descendants of a 400-year-old Finnish tribe once native to that part of western Russia, but now all but forgotten. They have different and non-traditional names for places and people, but most strikingly different are their rituals to do with marriage and death and the expression of grief.
sources :obssessedwithfilm, hollywoodreporter, dailytelegraph, imdb.
Film :“Neds"(Non-Educated Delinquents)
Film : “Mysteries of Lisbon”
Film : "Home for Christmas"
Film : “Father”
Actress :Nora Navas
