18/12/2013 - Abdellatif Kechiche enters a very select club of two-time winners. The Best First Film Award went to Hélier Cisterne’s Vandal

Awarded by a jury of critics presided by Gilles Jacob, the prestigious Louis-Delluc Prize 2013 was given to the Franco-Belgian-Spanish co-production Blue is the Warmest Colour [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Abdellatif Kechiche
film profile] by Abdellatif Kechiche, which continues to harvest awards since the great beginning of its festival career with the Palme d’Or in Cannes. Already rewarded in 2007 for The Secret of the Grain [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hafsia Herzi
film profile], the filmmaker enters a very private club of two-time winners of a prize often described as the “Goncourt prize of cinema”. He thus joins Louis Malle (laureate in 1957 and 1987), Michel Deville (1967 and 1988) and Claude Sautet (1969 and 1995), in the footsteps of the only triple laureate: Alain Resnais (1966, 1993 and 1997).

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Present on the Champs-Elysées for the awards ceremony, Abdellatif Kechiche dedicated his victory"to those who were his first source of inspiration for the film: teachers, who give so much to community, don’t look for the spotlight and yet deserve it so much.”

The Louis-Delluc Prize for Best First Film went to Vandal [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Hélier Cisterne, recently appreciated in competition in Turin and which focuses on a teenager (brilliantly played by Zinedine Benchenine) delving into the universe of "street art", and graffiti in particular. When he received his prize, the young director recalled “the long struggle to make this film, with an amazing producer, Justin Taurand (ed. Producer on the Move 2011 of the European Film Promotion), who fought for years.” Produced by Les Films du Bélier, Vandal (whose screenplay was written by Hélier Cisterne, Gilles Taurand and Katell Quillévéré) was coproduced by Belgian company Tarantula, Rhône-Alpes Cinéma and Hérodiade Films. Distributed in French theatres on October 9 by Pyramide, it is sold internationally by Films Distribution.

(Translated from French)