European landslide in Cognac

by Fabien Lemercier

11/04/2005 - The 23d Cognac Thriller Festival ended yesterday on the victory of the Spanish director Alex de la Iglesia. His seventh film, El Crimen Ferpecto (=the ferpect crime), won the Best Prize and the Public’s Prize. His dark comedy will be released in France by La Fabrique de Films on the 11th of May.

The Cognac festival has seldom seen such a landslide for European productions. The Jury distinguished Soundless by the German director Tom Tykwer, first feature for the actor Mennan Yapo. This film shows the metamorphosis of a professional killer who saves a woman’s life. The Swedish movie The Third Wave by Anders Nilsson was granted the ‘Special Police Prize’ by a jury of police. These professionals enjoyed this Scandinavian man hunt through France, the Netherlands, England, and Germany, on a background of traffics and corruption.
French films completed the European victory by winning in the ‘Young Blood’ section (Les Mauvais Joueurs [trailer] by Frédéric Balekjian), the TV movie section (Les Montana: sans issue by Benoît d'Aubert), and the Best Prize in the short film competition (Le Caissier by Frédéric Pelle).

(Translated from French)