British films scoop three awards

by Naman Ramachandran

29/01/2008 - British filmmaker James Marsh’s feature documentary Man on Wire [trailer] has won two major awards at Sundance. The film won both the World Cinema Documentary Jury Prize and the World Cinema Documentary Audience Award.

The film is a recounting of French artist Philippe Petit’s daring high-wire walk across New York’s newly built World Trade Centre twin towers in 1974, and his consequent arrest for what would be known as the “artistic crime of the century.”

Lenny Crooks, head of the UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund, which backed the film, said, “Man on Wire demonstrates the great potential of feature documentaries if we tackle subjects with an international perspective.”

In addition, Simon Ellis’ Soft won the International Jury Prize in International Short Filmmaking.

Sundance Director Geoffrey Gilmore said, “We have never had anything like the range, quality and full spectrum of films from the UK this year.”