10/12/2003

At the 12th edition of the Noir in Festival in Courmayeur, the main prize was awarded to the Spanish-Mexico co-production, Aro Tolbukhin: In the Mind of A Killer. The film, directed by Augustí Villaronga and starring Isaac P. Racine and Lydia Zimmermal, is representing Mexico in the Oscars for Best Foreign Film. It was shot in Hungary, France, Spain, Guatemala and Mexico and it is set up as a documentary made by different directors. These directors discover old tapes about a former Hungarian sailor, Aro Tolbukhin, who was tried in 1981 in Guatemala for having set fire to a religious mission, killing 7 people.

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The Festival’s international jury, led by the Canadian director Patricia Rozema, and made up of the writer Jean-Christophe Grangé and the actresses Maya Sansa, Amanda Plummer and Lidia Vitale, awarded the Napapijri Prize for Best Actor to the entire cast of the Danish film Stealing Rembrandt by Jannik Johansen. The Special Jury Prize was given for the music by Clint Mansell for the American film Abandon by Stephen Gaghan.

The Sky Max Public Prize was awarded to Runaway Jury by Gary Fleder. The "Corti di Paura" award for Best Short Film, judged by a jury of young European critics, was given to Cantautor by Emiliano Romero.