06/07/2009

Uberto Pasolini’s Italian/German/Sri Lankan co-production Machan [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] won the Golden Iris Award at the Brussels Film Festival, which came to an end last night.

The jury citation read: "It is often said that the best stories are written by real life. But they need a director who is able to tell the story for cinema. Director Uberto Pasolini (and his co-writer Ruwanthie de Chickera) and a great ensemble cast of Sri Lankan actors tell the story in a unique way. A warm hearted, human, incredibly funny film which never forgets the tragedy behind the story".

Machan, about a group of Sri Lankan men struggling to emigrate to the West, was first seen last year in Venice Days (see news), where it won the Europa Cinema Label.

Claudio Giovannesi's feature debut La Casa sulle Nuvole [+see also:
trailer
film profile] won the Special Jury Prize, with the jury emphasising the "excellence of the cast". The film stars Adriano Giannini and Paolo Sassanelli as two brothers in search of their long-lost father (Emilio Bonucci).

Actresses Hilda Péter and Malin Crépin shared the Best Acting Award for their respective performances in Peter Strickland's revenge tale Katalin Varga [+see also:
film review
trailer
Interview Peter Strickland - Director …
film profile] and Beata Gardeler’s drug drama In Your Veins [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

A special mention for achievement in directing was given to Norwegian director Rune Denstad Langlo for his film North [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rune Denstad Langlo
film profile] while the Euromillions Audience Award crowed Lukas Moodysson’s Mammoth [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile].

Caroline Bottaro's Joueuse [+see also:
trailer
film profile] got the BE TV Award and Olivier Boonjing's Somewhere Between Here and Now received the Prime Telenet Award.