18/11/2013 - UK director Clio Barnard’s feature debut won top prize at the 24th Stockholm International Film Festival for “the most touching portrayal of friendship we have seen in film,” as the jury explained

UK director Clio Barnard’s The Selfish Giant [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Clio Barnard
interview: Clio Barnard
film profile] (photo), about the friendship between two young lads and their dealings with a local scrap dealer in the outskirts of Bradford, won the 7.3 kilo Bronze Horse Grand Prix for Best Film at the 24^th Stockholm International Film Festival, which ended yesterday (November 17).

“Shattering, to the point, poetic, believable, delicate, humorous. The sensitive interaction between the two lead actors has resulted in the most touching portrayal of friendship we have seen in film,” said the jury of Barnard’s first feature, which was launched during the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes to win the Europa Cinemas Label.

US director Ryan Coogler’s feature debut, Last stop Fruitvale Station, which took both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award when premiered at Sundance, was named Best First Film. “It is both a brutal eye-opener and a masterful cinematic achievement,” was how the jury saw the real-life depiction of the last day in the life of 22-year-old Oscar Grant III, before he was fatally shot by US Police on New Year’s Day 2009.

Focussing on freedom – “the common thread running through the entire programme,” according to festival director Git Scheynius - the Swedish showcase this year displayed 180 features in a programme concluded by UK director Stephen Frears’ Philomena [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stephen Frears
film profile]. French director Claire Denis – “a filmmaker who continues to seek what others turn away from, always fearless and with a rare eye for visual poetry” – picked up the Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award, while UK director Peter Greenaway left with the Stockholm Visionary Award.

FULL LIST OF STOCKHOLM 2013 AWARDS

Best Film: The Selfish Giant. Dir: Clio Barnard (UK)

Best First Film: Last stop Fruitvale Station. Dir: Ryan Coogler (US)

Best Script: Alexandros Avranas, Kostas Peroulis, for Miss Violence [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alexandros Avranas
film profile]. Dir: Avranas (Greece)

Best Actor: George Mackay, forFor Those in Peril [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: George Mackay
film profile]. Dir: Paul Wright (UK)

Best Actress: Jasmine Trinca, for Honey [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Valeria Golino
interview: Valeria Golino
film profile]. Dir: Valeria Golino (Italy)

Best Cinematography: Lorenzo Hagerman, for Heli [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. Dir: Amat Escalante (Mexico)

Best Music: Hans Zimmer, for 12 Years a Slave [+see also:
trailer
making of
interview: Michael Fassbender
film profile]. Dir: Steve McQueen (US)

Best Short Film: Tears of Inge. Dir: Alisi Telengut (Canada)

Telia Film Award: Child’s Pose [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Calin Peter Netzer
film profile]. Dir: Calin Peter Netzer (Romania)

Citroën DS Rising Star: Swedish actor Adam Lundgren

Stockholm Feature Film Award: She’s Wild Again Tonight [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. Dir: Fia-Stina Sandlund (Sweden)

Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award: French director Claire Denis

Stockholm Visionary Award: UK director Peter Greenaway

1 km film – Scholarship: Spring. Dir: John Skoog (Sweden)

Ifestival Award: Swear. Dir: Lea Becker (Germany)