email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

FESTIVALS Germany

Jean Denizot lives "the good life" at Braunschweig

by 

- The French director has walked away with the Heinrich, while Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen has been crowned with this year’s Europa Award

Jean Denizot lives "the good life" at Braunschweig
The Good Life by Jean Denizot

The 28th Braunschweig International Film Festival (11-16 November) drew to a close at the weekend with the victory of French director Jean Denizot, who took home the gathering’s main award, the Heinrich for Best First or Second European Film, for The Good Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jean Denizot
film profile
]
. The movie – which is based on a true story and recounts the reclusive lives of two boys in the Pyrenees after they are kidnapped by their father, and their subsequent escape – trounced the nine other hopefuls, including the Venice selections The Goob [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guy Myhill
film profile
]
by Guy Myhill and The Council of Birds [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Timm Kröger, and even the Belgian comedy I’ll Bury You [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Sylvestre Sbille. The Heinrich is awarded by the gathering’s audience and comes with a total of €10,000, which is then shared out between the director and the film’s German distributor (or its production company).

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

The Kinema Award, handed out by a jury of young French and German people, went to the German film We Are Young, We Are Strong [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Burhan Qurbani, which revolves around the xenophobic neo-Nazi attack that took place in August 1992 in Rostock, eastern Germany. The Leo Award, which is handed to a short film in recognition of its music, was given to Finnish directors Hannes Vartiainen and Pekka Veikkolainen and their sound engineer, for Emergency Calls.

The highly important Europa Award, which, since it was created in 2007, has been bestowed upon such great actors as Hanna Schygulla, Bruno Ganz, John Hurt, Stellan Skarsgård and Isabelle Huppert for their contribution to European cinema, was this year given to Mads Mikkelsen. The Danish star had a retrospective of his work dedicated to him, which comprised The Hunt [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Thomas Vinterberg
interview: Thomas Vinterberg
film profile
]
, A Royal Affair [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mikkel Boe Følsgaard
interview: Nikolaj Arcel
film profile
]
, Valhalla Rising
 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nicolas Winding Refn
film profile
]
and After the Wedding [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sisse Graum Jørgensen
interview: Susanne Bier
film profile
]
.

Once again, the New International Cinema section offered a number of films that had already garnered a great deal of praise at the major festivals. These included the astounding Norwegian gangster comedy In Order of Disappearance [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hans Petter Moland
film profile
]
by Hans Petter Moland, Leviathan [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Russia’s Andreï Zviaguintsev, the Georgian production Brides [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tinatin Kajrishvili
film profile
]
by Tinatin Kajrishvili, They Have Escaped [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: J-P Valkeapää
film profile
]
by Finnish director Jukka-Pekka Valkeapää and the Dutch film The Dinner [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Menno Meyjes.

As usual, Braunschweig also honoured a great film-score composer by means of a retrospective: this time around, it was French composer Jean-Michel Bernard’s turn, who is perhaps best known for his recent collaborations with Michel Gondry.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

(Translated from French)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy