March 9, 2008

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Knight Grand Jury Awards Ceremony

The new cinematic stars came out last night at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, as the 25th edition of the Miami International Film Festival held its Gala Awards Ceremony. After greeting the sold-out crowd, MIFF Director Patrick de Bokay warmly greeted the audience and the assembled filmmakers.

“Tonight we are honoring a select few films, but the truth is that every film that has been able to completed under difficult conditions is an award unto itself,” he reflected.

Aside from the accolades, each of the Knight Grand Jury Prizes is accompanied by a $25,000 cash prize, one of the highest on the film festival circuit. The inclusion of this major cash award has greatly increased interest from filmmakers and the distribution sector in submitting their projects.

After thanking major sponsors and Miami Dade College, the jurors from the four major sections (World Cinema, Ibero-American Cinema, World Documentary and Best Short Film) were introduced.  Members of each competition jury made the actual awards announcements, sharing personal anecdotes about the process and the film finally chosen. The list of winners follows. 

2008 MIFF COMPETITION AWARDS

Dramatic Features: World Cinema Competition

• Knight Grand Jury Prize: TRICKS (SZTUCZKI)
  Andrzej Jakimowski’s picaresque film is about a fatherless boy who tries to tempt fate in this charming and bittersweet film from Poland.
• Special  Mention: IT'S HARD TO BE NICE (TESKO JE BITI FIN)
  Srdan Vuletic’s urban fairytale about post-war society from Bosnia follows a Sarajevo taxi driver whose attempts to change his life for the better are met with resistance at all turns.
• Special Mention: FOUL GESTURE (TNUAH MEGUNA)
  Itshak (Tzahi) Gradi’s film about vendetta and vigilantism centers on a middle-aged man who decides to take justice into his own hands after becoming the victim of a road rage incident.

Dramatic Features: Ibero-American Competition

• Knight Grand Jury Prize: COCHOCHI
  This Mexican road movie and fairytale by Israel Cárdenas and Laura Amelia Guzmán is part of this year’s MIFF Abroad program.
• Knight Grand Jury Prize: EAT, FOR THIS IS MY BODY
  Michelange Quay’s debut feature explores the spiritual corrosion of Haiti’s colonialist legacy with surreal, often wordless imagery.
• Special Mention: THE GIRLS (LAS NIÑAS)
  Using film as a scalpel to cut open the feminine mystique, Chilean director Rodrigo Marín’s two-hander pierces the heart of female relationships with uncanny perception.
• Special Mention: BLUE EYELIDS (PARPADOS AZULES)
  Quiet and nuanced, Ernesto Contrera’s touching dramatic comedy from Mexico explores the role that destiny plays in shaping our lives.

Documentary Features: World and Ibero-American Competition

• Knight Grand Jury Prize: SANTIAGO
  A fascinating meditation on the measure of a man, João Moreira Salles’ splintered documentary is a portrait that is both proud and profoundly erudite.
• Special Mention: SANTA FE STREET (CALLE SANTA FÉ)
  Calle Santa Fé is Carmen Castillo's poignantly personal journey to the homeland she was forced to leave behind, as well as her search for meaning in the struggle against oppression.
• Special Mention: A PAPER TIGER (UN TIGRE DE PAPEL)
  Luis Ospina’s dazzling, wickedly playful portrait of Manrique Figueroa mirrors his own country’s political upheaval from the 1940s to the 1970s.

Shorts Competition

• Knight Grand Jury Prize: HOMECOMING
  Connie Diletti’s film explores post-war trauma. While trying to process the indigestible experience of war, Drew tries to bring a friend home with him.
• Honorable Jury Mention: TRAUMOLOGY (TRAUMOLOGIA)
  Daniel Sánchez Arévalo’s follows Antonio’s wedding, where his father has a heart attack and whole family goes to the hospital where all of their traumas and miseries appear during a tense night.
• Special Mention for Best Animated Short Film: MADAME TUTLI PUTLI
  Is Chris Lavis’ and Maciek Szcerbowski’s film a Hitchcockian suspense or an artistic tour de force? The night train awaits you…
• Special Mention for Best First-Time Director: OVERNIGHT A ROSE
  Viv Koh’s film is about overcoming lies and the nature of true love. 

MIFF Audience Awards

• Dramatic Features: World Cinema Competition: BLISS (MUTLULUK)
  Abdullah Oguz’s intense and beautifully rendered drama boasts stellar performances and a compelling musical score and stunning images of the Sea of Marmara.
• Dramatic Features: Ibero-American Cinema Competition: LA ZONA
  Rodrigo Plá’s taut thriller doubles as a damning critique of Mexico City’s shocking economic disparity. Once threatened, an enclave of privilege sheds all pretense of civility to succumb to the basest of instincts—the deadly mob mentality.
• Documentary Features: World & Ibero-American Competition: STRANDED: I'VE COME FROM A PLANE THAT CRASHED IN THE MOUNTAINS (VENGO DE UN AVIÓN QUE CAYÓ EN LAS MONTAÑAS)
  Through the use of carefully constructed dramatizations, news footage, and interviews with survivors atop the crash site, filmmaker Gonzalo Arijón crafts a moving testament to the strength and endurance of the human spirit. 

FIPRESCI International Critics Award

FOUL GESTURE (TNUAH MAGUNA)
Itshak (Tzahi) Gradi’s film about vendetta and vigilantism centers on a middle-aged man who decides to take justice into his own hands after becoming the victim of a road rage incident.   

A Turn From Tornatore

Following the Gala Awards Ceremony, the Festival offered the pleasure of the Closing Night Film, LA SCONOSCIUTA (THE UNKNOWN WOMAN) by Oscar-winning Italian director Guiseppe Tornatore (CINEMA PARADISO). The film, a suspenseful thriller, has been a great box office success in its native Italy and throughout Europe. It won the Audience Award at the European Film Awards and was a major winner at the David di Donatello Awards (the Italian Oscars), winning awards as Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Cinematography and Best Music.  

Awards Gala After Party

A who’s who of Miami’s cultural world mixed with visiting filmmakers and industry professionals at the Awards After Party. Dance music of all stripes spun on the turntable, as filmmakers let loose after an intense week of screenings and Miami International Film Festival staffers let their hair down after months of hard work and dedication. Music, dancing and drinking continued into the wee hours, as Miami threw one of its most lavish and sexy parties on a South Beach Saturday night. It was MIFF’s night to party, and party it did.

Musical Miami

Parallel to the events at the Gusman Center, two music documentaries showcased the new REEL Music Scene program introduced into the Festival this year. A Dutch documentary, IZALINE CALISTER: LADY SINGS THE TAMBU, is an intimate portrait of the legendary singer Izaline Calister, who deftly mixes native Curacao rhythms and jazz to find a unique voice all her own. Both Ms. Calister and the film’s director Miluska Rosalina were present at the screening for a lively question-and-answer period.

On a different part of the musical scale, the seminal rap group Public Enemy were the focus of PUBLIC ENEMY: WELCOME TO THE TERRORDROME. The visually inventive documentary follows the rap supergroup on their 2002 London tour and reflects on their enduring legacy and influence on the evolution of rap.  Director Robert Patton-Spruill and members of Public Enemy wowed the crowd at the Regal South Beach.

LAST CHANCE
Click on titles for more information

Screening Today

KNIGHT GRAND JURY PRIZE WINNERS
Be among the first people in the world to see back-to-back showings of the major winners of last evening’s Knight Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema, Ibero-American Dramatic Features and World Documentary sections. These screenings will highlight the best of the Fest. See schedule below for exact titles and screening times.
Screenings: Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, 4:00pm, 7:00pm, 9:30pm

SHORTS PROGRAMS I, II and III
In the inaugural year of the Short Film Awards competition, the Festival is presenting back-to-back screenings of the short films from all three of the short film programs. Be sure to catch CUTLASS, the directorial debut of actress (now director) Kate Hudson in Program III.
Screenings: The Colony Theater, 12:00pm, 2:00pm, 4:00pm

ONE WATER (U.S.)
Access to clean water is one of the things that we take for granted in the Western world. However, in many parts of the developing world, clean water is a luxury and unclean water the breeding ground for disease. In this extraordinary and stunning film, filmmakers Sanjeev Chatterjee and Ali Habashi take a mesmerizing journey through 14 countries to illustrate the value of the earth’s most precious resource. The film, which was produced by the University of Miami, will be followed by a discussion featuring the directors and community activists.
Screening: The Colony Theater, 6:30pm

LIVE EARTH
Ten short films that explore the challenges facing our global community are highlighted in this unique program. Filmmakers from the U.S., Europe and Latin America all participated in this compilation film that reinforces our common challenges for the future of the planet. The film will be followed by a discussion that will feature many of the film directors and community activists.
Screening:  The Colony Theater, 8:30pm